Robots might be bad for men, but give women more bargaining power

Article here. Excerpt:

'In 741 U.S. regions that were more exposed to industrial robots, his team found a statistical decline in men’s wages and workforce participation. They also saw a decline in marriage stability, marriage fertility and the earning power of men.

There’s some good news for women, though: Men’s decreased income translated into a reduction in the gender income gap by 4.2% and the workforce-participation gender gap by 2.1%, meaning that women in these regions gained greater bargaining power.

“Male income fell at a substantially higher rate than female income, decreasing the gender income gap. Moreover, robot exposure has increased female labor force participation significantly while leaving the labor force participation of men unchanged,” Giuntella said. “We argue that these labor market effects affected men’s marriageability and women’s willingness to long-term commitments with a decline in marriages and marital fertility.”'