Industrial robot applications and individual migration decision: evidence from households in China

The integration of industrial robot application (IRA) into various sectors has catalyzed significant transformations in the labor market, reshaping the dynamics of individual migration decision (IMD). As industries increasingly adopt automation, the implications for workforce distribution and migration patterns become critical areas of study. Based on the conditional logit model and using CMDS data, this paper explores the relationship between IRA and IMD, as well as the heterogeneity effect and influencing mechanism. The findings indicate that IRA reduces the probability of the floating population choosing the city, and the results are robust after considering endogeneity and further robustness test. The impact of IRA on IMD is heterogeneous. Relatively speaking, the floating population with high education levels, health, younger, unmarried, female, agricultural household registration, state-owned enterprises, and non-routine task work does not over-think the impact of IRA during the migration process. In addition, the floating population also considers geographical location, city size, marketization level, wage level, and environmental quality when making migration decisions. the mechanism test shows that IRA attracts or suppresses the floating population through factors such as wage levels, housing price level, difficulty in finding a job, etc., depending on the result of individual utility maximization. These insights reveal the complex interplay between technological advancements in robotics and labor migration, emphasizing the need for comprehensive policy frameworks to manage these transformations effectively.