How will automation reshape worker well-being? Evidence from a highly automated economy

The rapid growth of industrial robotization in South Korea—one of the world’s most automated economies—offers a unique setting to study the psychological as well as economic impacts of automation. Drawing on county-level robot-intensity measures linked to individual data from the Community Health Survey and the Korean Labor & Income Panel Study, we employ two-way fixed-effects instrumental-variables models over one-, two-, and three-year intervals to isolate causal effects. We find that higher robot adoption swiftly elevates workers’ stress and depression, undermines self-rated health, and prompts increased alcohol consumption. In contrast, overall job-satisfaction ratings remain essentially unchanged, though select dimensions—daily task enjoyment, perceived meaningfulness, confidence in benefits, and long-term job commitment—erode in a staggered pattern consistent with our technostress framework. By extending technostress theory from digital tools to factory automation, our study reveals how shifting performance norms and cognitive burdens generate mental spillovers beyond the shop floor. These findings underscore the need for accompanying robotic investments with worker-centered supports—targeted upskilling, job redesign, and mental-health resources—to ensure that productivity gains do not come at the cost of human well-being.