Robots Can Create, Not Eliminate, Jobs, Says UN Sidhartha - The Times of India
go to original September 18, 2017

Will Robots Take Our Jobs? (The Good Stuff)

China has the second largest army of industrial robots today, and its real wages have increased about 1.5 times in the past 10 years. In both Germany and Mexico, increasing automation has created more jobs, a United Nations report released last week says. "...it is interesting to note that some countries where robot density is large, including Germany and the Republic of (South) Korea, as well as countries where the accumulation of robots has been rapid, such as China, experienced an increase, or only a small decline, in the share of manufacturing in total employment," says the report by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad).

"China and Germany also experienced an increase in the absolute number of manufacturing jobs, while the Republic of Korea recorded a small decline." Pointing to the automobile sector in Germany, the report concedes that some of the adverse impacts of automation on employment and income could be transferred to other countries, but it also discounts the idea that use of robots will result in relocation of manufacturing to countries such as the US. "...an important part of new manufacturing activities in the US relates to offshoring by European and Asian firms in relatively advanced manufacturing sectors, rather than to a re-shoring by firms in the US of labor-intensive manufacturing from developing countries."

This may be good news for developing countries that have a large number of labor-intensive manufacturing units. While companies are increasingly looking at automation, studies suggest robot use benefits sectors such as automobiles, electronics and transport equipment more than labor-intensive low-wage sectors such as textiles and apparel, and food and beverages. As a result, five industries — auto, computers and electronics, electrical equipment and appliances, rubber, plastic and chemical products, and machinery — have the highest concentration of industrial robots.

Read the rest at The Times of India

Related: Robots Won’t Steal Our Jobs if We Put Workers at Center of Artificial Intelligence Revolution (The Conversation)

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