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AI Limiting European Workers’ Bargaining Power, ECB’s Lane Says
Lane said AI investment is tightening financing conditions and may slow wage growth as euro-zone firms weaken workers’ bargaining power.
On Tuesday, European Central Bank Chief Economist Philip Lane said increased artificial intelligence usage by companies in Europe could curb workers' ability to demand higher wages while tightening financing conditions.
With inflation running at nearly twice the ECB's 2% target, policymakers search for wage-growth signals; muted hiring plans limit workers' ability to demand compensation for high inflation, Lane said.
Heavy global borrowing to fund artificial intelligence is pushing up long-term interest rates, which Lane said "constitutes a material tightening of financial conditions for the euro area."
Some economists suggest the ECB may need to do less to tame price growth, since tighter financing conditions help prevent inflation from becoming embedded in the economy.
Over the longer term, Lane said artificial intelligence could raise the economy's potential "speed limit" and help Europe offset the economic impact of a projected working-age population decline.
THE APPLICATION of AI in the eurozone is weakening the bargaining power of workers, and investments in technology are raising the cost of borrowing for everyone, warns the ECB's chief economist, Philip Lane.