Partial Automation: Routine-Biased Technical Change, Deskilling, and the Minimum Wage

This paper argues that technology only partially, and not fully, automates tasks for which labor is still relevant. It concludes that cost of automation also includes the cost of low-skilled workers and that a $1 reduction in minimum wage increases average industry technology up-take by 30%. The report suggests that minimum wage, thus, is an important policy lever to influence the pace of routine-biased technical change.