Technological unemployment,robotisation, and green deal: A story of unstable spillovers in China and South Korea (2008–2018)

The growing use of robots in the current ICT revolution has sparked a serious debate about the potential threat robots pose to human labour. In parallel, the convergence towards a more sustainable economy has caused a transformation of firms and a consequent restructuring of employment. In this article we investigate the problem of technological unemployment and environmental rebound effect by looking at how relationships between jobless growth, industrial robots usage, CO₂ emissions, and renewable energy consumption changed over time in China and South Korea. Findings from a competition model based on differential equations for the period 2008–2018 show that robots do not always increase unemployment growth. On the other hand, the type of relationship between unemployment and sustainable use of energy changes over time, questioning the possibility of a smart green new deal.