The potential impact of Autonomous vehicles on the labor market in The Netherlands

The potential impact of Autonomous vehicles on the labor market in The Netherlands

Somashekar, Prathap (TU Delft Technology, Policy and Management)

van Wee, G.P. (graduation committee)
Annema, J.A. (mentor)
Schröder, E. (graduation committee)

Delft University of Technology

Management of Technology (MoT)

2020-04-30

The automobile industry has been continuously working on bringing automation in motor vehicles for the betterment of human life. Advancement in technology has helped companies manufacture cars that can drive and navigate on their own called Autonomous vehicles (AVs). There are numerous effects of AVs on society. The AVs are forecast to bring enormous changes in the labor market. The objective of the study is to understand how the introduction of AVs will impact the labor market related to skills and job types in The Netherlands. There has been a fear that changes in geography and technological change threatens the employee’s mismatch with their skill and job. Over multiple decades this mismatch has increased the demand for new skills and the supply is maintained by increasing the education level of workers. This demand for skill is due to technological change and it is predicted that there will be similar changes due to the introduction of AVs. To achieve the objective of this research, 13 semi-structured interviews were conducted with the academicians from the universities of The Netherlands and experts from labor organizations of The Netherlands. Interview questions were generated with the help of the conceptual model which was generated by the literature. From the result of the interview, it can be concluded that the AVs will not be having a major impact on the labor market and the problem will be very minimal related to skill and job types. Skill mismatch is not a major concern in The Netherlands and it will be only persisting for a short duration. There will be an increase in jobs and skills related to ICT and the supervision of AVs. Furthermore, interviewees claimed that the skill mismatch problem will not emerge if the introduction of AVs to the society is done incrementally and gradually. Based on the result, it is recommended for the future study should focus on quantifying the impact of AVs on the labor market based on the wage effect and inequality. And also expand the study in other countries if the effect is different compared to The Netherlands.

Autonomous vehicles
labor markets
skill mismatch
The Netherlands

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:ea395903-161a-4bd0-b93b-8dee7f202945

Student theses

master thesis

© 2020 Prathap Somashekar