Is Industry 4.0 a Revolutionary or Evolutionary Change? Analysis of Chosen Economic Indicators for Slovak and Czech Economy

Abstract

Since Industry 4.0 has emerged, it has provoked discussions among managers, politicians, educators, workers, and the wide public. Involvement of new technologies into production process, but also rapid development of information and communication technologies, is associated with this concept. These tendencies are a source of concern for workers in the labor market, as Industry 4.0 initiative is seen as a revolutionary change in the production process instead of an evolutionary economic development, especially with positive impact on labor productivity. This concept of Industry 4.0 is used for the analysis of selected economic indicators in the conditions of Slovak and Czech economy from 1995 to 2018, for the analysis of development in all sectors together, but also in individual sectors separately. The results confirm the assumption of a rather evolutionary approach to the economic development, which, after the period of economic transformation, indicates continual investments in technological equipment with new technologies as well, rising productivity and wages, accompanied by increase in number of workers and decrease in hours worked per employee, than a revolutionary change due to implementation of Industry 4.0 initiative. However, the results also point to different developments across sectors.