Source: Yong Suk Lee et al., "Robots and Labor in Nursing Homes," National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper (Cambridge, Massachusetts: November 2024).

Commentary: Nursing homes are notorious for worker shortages, which worsens the quality of care for patients and the work environment for employees. Japanese nursing homes have begun deploying robots to address these problems. Yong Suk Lee, et al., surveyed nursing homes in early 2020 and 2022 to assess the impacts of robot adoption on worker productivity, revenue, and quality of care, and they found that all factors were positively affected. Researchers found that productivity and revenue increased by 2 percent after nursing homes adopted robots. Even more striking, the quality of care improved immensely in homes using robots. Pressure ulcers, a symptom of poor care that bed-ridden residents experience when they don't change positions routinely, fell by 26 percent. Falls at night also decreased by 7 percent. Overall employment in nursing homes increased for care workers and nurses, although there was a 3 percent decrease in full-time care workers.