why are people so against automation in factories if it makes things safer and produces more goods? is it just that people are losing jobs? but there are different jobs that open up.
In: Technology
There is only 1 job according to the BLS to have been completely replaced by automation . That is elevator attendant ; literally the job of pulling a level or pushing a button in an elevator . If you look back at census data from like to 1800s you will find plenty of jobs that don’t exist today. That being said nobody grew up wanting to be a software engineer in 1850. The problem is the jobs that automation tends to replace tend to be repetitive with very little critical thought needed to do the job , and the jobs that take its place require a new skillset.
If you are a 55 year old factory worker who has been bolting in the same 4 bolts for 35 years , you probably wont be able to re-skill to do something different before you retire. You also need less people . A Factory in the US needs far fewer people today to run than back 50 years ago. A factory may have supplied jobs to 5 towns full of people before, suddenly they only need 30% as many people.
In the developing world automation is also feared. Fully mechanizing farming in India is banned , because if they fully mechanized all farms there would be 20% unemployment . So many people are employed doing less efficient work because the alternative would cause many people to not have a job.
Latest Answers