We examine how speed of automation is affected by different employment protection regimes - one with lenient and one with stringent regulation. To assess we examine how occupations shares in the UK, US, Germany and Spain has changed from 1991-2013. According to our estimates, we find that the speed, of which high-risk occupations shrink over time, slows down in countries with a stringent EPL, Germany and Spain, regime relative to lenient EPL levels, the UK and US.