Around the world, robots are flooding the labor market, with more than 4 million robots in industrial operations. These robots, which can work without breaks and don’t need expensive retraining or healthcare, are slated to replace 375 million jobs worldwide by 2030. Although 58 million new jobs are said to be created by machines (World Economic Forum), what will happen to those 300+ million workers who are replaced by robots?
![](https://moneytreestudio.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Untitled-1200-×-1200-px-66-1024x1024.jpg)
Those most at risk of automation include cooks, waiters, and other employees in food services; short-haul truck drivers; and clerical office workers. The robotic threat also varies by education level. “The average automation potential of occupations requiring less than a bachelor’s degree is 55 percent, more than double the 24 percent susceptibility among occupations requiring at least a bachelor’s degree”. Further, replacement in the US is regional. Some of the highest concentrations of routine work [riskiest to automation] were in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast in cities like Detroit (37.7 percent), Greensboro, N.C. (37.6 percent), and Providence R.I. (37 percent). Outside of the US, China has dominated the shipment of robotics. They are hoping that robots can improve production in addition to human labor, with the goal of at least 4.7% growth per year.
However, one researcher from Brigham Young University – Eric Dahlin – claims that our fears about automation and job replacement are exaggerated. Of the nearly 2,000 people Dahlin surveyed, those who had been replaced by a robot (14%) estimated that 47% of all jobs had been taken over by robots. Those who hadn’t been replaced estimated that 29% of jobs had been taken over by robots. Both estimates far exceeded the 14% reality of those surveyed.
Although concerns about job displacement due to robots may be exacerbated by our own experiences or the news, there are leaders and policymakers that are trying to avoid something like the job displacement we witnessed in the 1980s – 2000s, when millions of factory workers in the US lost their jobs (4). First, it is recommended that the Federal Reserve commit energetically to pursuing “maximum employment.” Second, it is argued that intellectual property law is overhauled so that companies that develop valuable patents and trademarks don’t have such a lengthy monopoly on their innovations. Third, leaders and policy wonks argue for the importance of lifelong learning and skill acquisition as the economy transitions again. Overall, as citizens of this new global technological economy, it’s important to stay up to date to ensure security.