The increasing use of robots is negatively impacting the mental health of workers, a new study from the Vienna University of Economics and Business reveals.

“Our results suggest that the more automation, in terms of industrial robots in production, in a sector, the worse the mental health of employees,” says Dr Ana Lucia Abeliansky, Assistant Professor at WU, and her fellow researchers. This effect is primarily driven by worries about job security and a lower sense of achievement on the job.

The past decades have witnessed rapid growth in robot adoption: from 4 lac industrial robots worldwide in 1990 to more than three million in 2020, according to International Federation of Robotics data. Recent studies find that 9-12 per cent of occupations are susceptible to automation with some earlier studies even suggesting numbers of up to 47 per cent.

Women and men are affected similarly, as are workers of all educational levels, though those close to the end of their working lives, working in routine jobs or low-skilled occupations are the most fearful of being replaced by robots.

Poor mental health affects individual productivity and, by implication, economic growth, and can have severe personal and health effects. Poor mental health has spillover effects on relatives, friends, the healthcare system, firms, and society.

The side effects of new technologies such as automation on mental health should not be ignored by policymakers. it is important to ensure the functioning of social security systems that protect those who suffer from automation, particularly by providing health insurance and unemployment insurance coverage.

The study was published in the Journal Research Policy.