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Source: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/944524
News Release 23-Feb-2022
Robots are increasing mortality among US adults
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Yale University
Robots are increasing mortality among U.S. adults
The automation of U.S. manufacturing — robots replacing people on factory floors — is fueling rising mortality rate among America’s working-age adults, according to a new study by researchers at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania.
The study, published Feb. 23 in the journal Demography, found evidence of a causal link between automation and increasing mortality, driven largely by increased “deaths of despair,” such as suicides and drug overdoses. This is particularly true for males and females aged 45 to 54, according to the study. But researchers also found evidence of increased mortality across multiple age and sex groups from causes as varied as cancer and heart disease.
Public policy, including strong social-safety net programs, higher minimum wages, and limiting the supply of prescription opioids, can blunt automation’s effects on a community’s health, the researchers concluded.
“For decades, manufacturers in the United States have turned to automation to remain competitive in a global marketplace, but this technological innovation has reduced the number of quality jobs available to adults without a college degree — a group that has faced increased mortality in recent years,” said lead author Rourke O’Brien, assistant professor of sociology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “Our analysis shows that automation exacts a toll on the health of individuals both directly — by reducing employment, wages, and access to healthcare — as well as indirectly, by reducing the economic vitality of the broader community.”
Since 1980, mortality rates in the United States have diverged from those in other high-income countries. Today, Americans on average die three years sooner than their counterparts in other wealthy nations...
News Release 23-Feb-2022
Robots are increasing mortality among US adults
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Yale University
Robots are increasing mortality among U.S. adults
The automation of U.S. manufacturing — robots replacing people on factory floors — is fueling rising mortality rate among America’s working-age adults, according to a new study by researchers at Yale and the University of Pennsylvania.
The study, published Feb. 23 in the journal Demography, found evidence of a causal link between automation and increasing mortality, driven largely by increased “deaths of despair,” such as suicides and drug overdoses. This is particularly true for males and females aged 45 to 54, according to the study. But researchers also found evidence of increased mortality across multiple age and sex groups from causes as varied as cancer and heart disease.
Public policy, including strong social-safety net programs, higher minimum wages, and limiting the supply of prescription opioids, can blunt automation’s effects on a community’s health, the researchers concluded.
“For decades, manufacturers in the United States have turned to automation to remain competitive in a global marketplace, but this technological innovation has reduced the number of quality jobs available to adults without a college degree — a group that has faced increased mortality in recent years,” said lead author Rourke O’Brien, assistant professor of sociology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences. “Our analysis shows that automation exacts a toll on the health of individuals both directly — by reducing employment, wages, and access to healthcare — as well as indirectly, by reducing the economic vitality of the broader community.”
Since 1980, mortality rates in the United States have diverged from those in other high-income countries. Today, Americans on average die three years sooner than their counterparts in other wealthy nations...