Robot Application and Workers' Compensation Change: The Consistent Logic of Overall Evolution and Structural Differentiation

SONG Pei; LI Lin; NA Meiya; AI Yang

Volume 40 Issue 5

Sep. 2025

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Article Navigation > Journal of Guangdong University of Finance & Economics > 2025 > 40(5): 91-109

SONG Pei, LI Lin, NA Meiya, AI Yang. Robot Application and Workers' Compensation Change: The Consistent Logic of Overall Evolution and Structural Differentiation[J]. Journal of Guangdong University of Finance & Economics, 2025, 40(5): 91-109.

Citation:

SONG Pei, LI Lin, NA Meiya, AI Yang. Robot Application and Workers' Compensation Change: The Consistent Logic of Overall Evolution and Structural Differentiation[J]. Journal of Guangdong University of Finance & Economics, 2025, 40(5): 91-109.

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Robot Application and Workers' Compensation Change: The Consistent Logic of Overall Evolution and Structural Differentiation

SONG Pei¹,
LI Lin^2
,,
NA Meiya³,
AI Yang⁴

1.
Antai College of Economics and Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200030
2.
Institute of Applied Economics, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, Shanghai 200020
3.
School of Economics and Management, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot 010021
4.
School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China

Received Date: 2025-05-07
Available Online: 2025-10-25
Publish Date: 2025-09-28

Abstract

Abstract

Robots are profoundly changing the global production mode and labor market structure, and have a complex and far-reaching impact on income distribution. It is pointed out that the overall evolution direction of labor income depends on the production relationship between machine capital and labor, and the dependence of machine capital on workers' skills and gender differences among workers with different skills determine the changing trend of skill wage premium and gender wage gap, which provides consistent logical support for understanding the overall evolution and structural differentiation of workers' compensation under the application of robots. Based on the panel data of China city and the CLDS, the empirical tests show that the current robot application will reduce labor income share, expand the skill wage premium and narrow the gender income gap. Besides, the influence of robot application on workers' compensation gradually appears after 2013. Heterogeneity tests show that the impact of robot application on labor income share is more significant in the central and western regions, the impact on skill wage premium is more prominent in the eastern and western regions, non-young workers and workers in the tertiary industry, and the role of narrowing the gender wage gap is greater in the western region, young workers and workers in the secondary industry. The mechanism tests show that the substitution effect of capital deepening and employment shock, and the complementary effect of skill upgrading and industrial transformation are the dual channels through which robot application affects workers' compensation. The research provides countermeasures and enlightenment for the government to promote high-quality economic development with both efficiency and fairness.
- robot application,
- workers' compensation,
- labor income share,
- skill wage premium,
- gender wage gap

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References(44)

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