The automation of abilities, not jobs

Automation is one of the key topics of the 21st century with many workers concerned about their jobs being replaced by machines. This has led to an ongoing debate to determine to what degree automation is occurring, and which occupations are going to be affected by it. This paper attempts to take a different approach which differs from mainstream authors by focusing on the tasks that each occupation is composed of, rather than the whole occupation itself. To do so I estimate the effect ten abilities, skills or work activities have had on employment and wages between 2000 and 2015 in the United States. An example of my findings is that tasks which include processing information are complemented by automation whereas working in a cramped work space is a bottleneck to automation. Using this new approach, this paper provides useful information on how firms, individuals and policy makers should adapt to an ever-increasing automated reality