About
An economics-led lab on AI and the future of work
The AI-Econ Lab studies how artificial intelligence is reshaping labour markets across countries, particularly for white-collar and service work, combining international comparisons with uncommonly broad access to linked register data: deepest in Sweden, reaching Denmark, Portugal and Germany, and expanding. Based at Örebro University and the Ratio Institute, we pair peer-reviewed research with open, citable public goods (the AIEL Monitor and the DAIOE exposure measure), so evidence on AI and work reaches policymakers, journalists and the public, not only specialists.
The lab
Who we are.
The AI-Econ Lab was initiated in 2019 and is led by associate professor Magnus Lodefalk in cooperation with professor Hildegunn Kyvik-Nordås. A steering group is tied to the lab (Lodefalk, Kyvik-Nordås, Schroeder and Görg).
The lab is located at Örebro University, a hub for AI development in Sweden, and is part of the university's Center for AI, Robotics and Cybersecurity (ARC). It has two partner institutions, the Ratio Institute and the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum.
The lab is also a partner, and Örebro University a node, for the Swedish research cluster on AI, Structural Change and the Future of Work (AISCAF), funded by the Wallenberg AI, Autonomous Systems and Software Program – Humanity and Society (WASP-HS). AISCAF is co-led with Uppsala University and Stockholm University.
Support · as of August 2026
Who funds the work.
Hosts, grants and data partners are three different things, and we keep them apart. An independence claim is only worth as much as the disclosure it follows.
Premises, infrastructure and the research environment. Ratio has also contributed financially to the underlying research.
- Örebro University
- Ratio Institute
Grants supporting the research the Monitor and DAIOE are built from. Collaborators at other institutions are supported by their own funders, named per author in each paper's acknowledgements.
- Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation (P19-0234 and P26-0234), a Handelsbanken research foundation.
- Torsten Söderberg Foundation (E46/21, ET3/23).
- WASP-HS (grant 805), through the Örebro University node of the AISCAF research cluster. The lab contributes to AISCAF rather than being part of it.
The annual AIEL conference on AI and white-collar work is funded separately from the research.
- Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius Foundation and Tore Browaldh Foundation, the Handelsbanken research foundations, have funded several editions of the conference, most recently 2026 (Fh25-0082).
Independence
The AIEL Monitor has no dedicated funder. It is built as part of the lab's research infrastructure, on public data. No funder or data partner controls its methods, its results or the timing of publication. Organisations that share data with us, who are not funders, are listed separately below.
Data partners
Who shares data with us.
Several organisations give the lab access to data they collect themselves. None of them fund the lab, none of them see our results before publication, and listing them implies no endorsement. Where we publish figures from their data we say so on the figure, state what we did to it, and keep the underlying records private.
- Akavia (site) · Member web panel on AI and working life, 2023 onwards. Shared with the lab; we publish aggregates with attribution.
Book
Artificial Intelligence and Work.
Magnus Lodefalk · 2024 · Ratio Institute. A book on AI and working life (in Swedish, as Artificiell intelligens och jobben; English version pending). During autumn 2026 it becomes a living, updatable source linked to the Monitor. View the book →
Contact & visit
Get in touch.
If you are interested in collaborating or writing an advanced thesis, send us an e-mail. There may be external funding for doctoral students and post-doctoral positions.
E-mail magnus.lodefalk (at) oru (dot) se
Phone +46 (0)722 21 73 40
Post Örebro University, SE-701 82 Örebro, Sweden