Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, robotics and other forms of automation technologies have unsurprisingly led to a re-emergence of ‘automation anxiety’ and suggestions by some that we are near the ‘end of work’.
We seek to evaluate previous employment adjustments in terms of job quality to understand how impending automation technologies may affect the quality of jobs in the future. We argue for the consideration of job quality when thinking about the impacts of automation technologies on the labour market. While much of the attention in the media has focused on job losses from advances in automation technologies, there has been little focus on the quality of jobs lost and the quality of jobs that have been ‘replacing’ them.