Automation can create new jobs whilst it also threatens employment. However, there is still a broad debate in academia about the net effect of the two types of impacts, i.e., whether automation can lead to net employment growth. By establishing a task-based production function model with technology and leisure simultaneously endogenous, this study examines how leisure expansion and work flexibility enhancement provide a feasible path for automation technology to generate net employment growth. Based on econometric tests of economic data from China, this study deepens the internal analysis of the employment effects of automation by identifying a feasible path for automation to create net employment growth, i.e. automation development → labor productivity improvement → leisure expansion → technology-based gig economy employment → net employment growth. The study suggests that comprehensive support be provided to promote new employment forms and enhance the employability of the technology-based working population; relevant institutional support be strengthened to encourage "secondary innovation" based on new technologies; and industrial cross-fertilization be encouraged to strengthen the combination of automation employment with consumption upgrading.