Are robots taking our jobs?

This article assesses the effect of computer‐based technologies on employment in Australia. We find that: (i) the total amount of work available has not decreased following the introduction of computer‐based technologies; and (ii) the pace of structural change and job turnover in the labour market has not accelerated with the increasing application of computer‐based technologies. A review of recent studies that claim computer‐based technologies may be about to cause widespread job destruction establishes several major flaws with these predictions. Our suggested explanation for why techno‐phobia has such a grip on popular imagination is a human bias to believe that ‘we live in special times’.