Essays on Technological Change and Labor Market Dynamics: Causal Evidence from Remote Work and Automation

This dissertation investigates how technological changes reshape labor market outcomes in the United States, focusing on two transformative forces: remote work and automation. Across two empirical studies, I provide causal evidence on how these technologies influence workforce composition, labor market participation, and geographic mobility. The first chapter estimates the causal effects of rising remote work on women’s labor market share. Using a difference-in-differences framework augmented with double machine learning and an instrumental variables strategy, I find that shifting jobs from fully on-site to arrangements that include remote work increases the female share of new hires by about 10 percentage points and the female workforce share by roughly 6 percentage points, with especially pronounced effects in male-dominated industries. The second chapter examines how industrial automation affects geographic mobility from 1987 to 2020, leveraging variation in commuting-zone exposure and a Bartik-style instrument. While broad measures of automation show an insignificant negative impact, exposure to software and machinery automation significantly reduces population growth—by 0.71 and 0.68 percentage points, respectively, for a one-standard-deviation increase. Together, the two studies highlight the opportunities and challenges for the labor market brought by technological changes: technological progress expands access to labor market opportunities and promotes gender equality, yet worker displacement driven by automation poses challenges for local labor demand and population growth.

Author dc:creator

• Tong Ye (107117)

• Labor Economics

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

DOI dc:identifier

https://doi.org/10.25417/uic.32993966.v1

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:figshare.com:article/32993966