Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Employment: Methodological Problems of Estimating the Employment Effects of CIM Application on the Macroeconomic Level

Abstract

This paper is one of the first research products of the newly established Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) Project, of which Prof. Ayres is the leader. It addresses issues of occupation-by-sector data availability, international comparability, and suitability for use with formal I-O models. Methods of estimating labor substitutability by CIM are also discussed, along with some early estimates of the impact of robotics on employment. The paper was formally presented at a session of the American Economic Association meeting in New Orleans, December 30, 1986. As an IIASA working paper it will be available to collaborating researchers and institutions in other countries.