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GTAP Resource #7737

"Generative AI and Occupational Change in Australia: A Task-Based CGE Analysis"
by Lennox, James and Janine Dixon


Abstract
This paper analyses the long-run labour-market and macroeconomic implications of generative AI (GenAI) using a task- and occupation-based computable general equilibrium (CGE) model of the Australian economy. Unlike partial-equilibrium task-based approaches or CGE studies representing automation as coarse labour–capital substitution, the framework models augmentation and automation as endogenous, competing task technologies within a 45-industry, 97-occupation general-equilibrium structure.

The model is calibrated using separate occupational exposure scores for augmentation and automation potential. In a reference simulation with full and broad GenAI adoption, real GDP rises by 29.8%, while welfare rises by only 16.2%, reflecting a more capital-intensive equilibrium: investment’s share of GDP increases from 34.5% to 40.7%. Direct task-level productivity improvements account for roughly one third of the GDP gain, with the majority arising through induced capital deepening and general-equilibrium reallocation. These qualitative patterns are robust to alternative assumptions about global export demand.

The dominant labour-market effect is a reconfiguration of task composition within occupations rather than large-scale displacement between them. Approximately 46.7% of tasks are augmented and 9.1% automated, affecting around two thirds of all work. Gross task reallocation is of similar magnitude, while net employment shifts across occupations remain modest, with losses concentrated in lower-skilled white-collar roles. At the aggregate level, the adjustment is accompanied by a shift in factor incomes, with the labour share declining and capital capturing a corresponding increase.


Resource Details () GTAP Keywords
Category: 2026 Conference Paper
Status: Not published
By/In:
Date:
Version:
Created: Lennox, J. (4/13/2026)
Updated: Lennox, J. (4/14/2026)
Visits: 12
- Technological change
- Model extension/development
- Oceania


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