Robot workers are being hired at record rates in US companies – here’s why

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration of The European Sting with the World Economic Forum.

Author: Johnny Wood, Senior Writer, Formative Content

• US companies ordered more robots than ever before in the first nine months of 2021, as they struggled to recruit staff.
• Economic disruption caused by COVID-19 and increased remote working has accelerated technical take-up rates.
• Cloud computing, big data and e-commerce adoption is expected to continue growing in the coming years, displacing more workplace processes.

Robotics development has long prompted concerns that machines will take jobs from humans, but, in the US, robot orders have hit an all-time high as many companies struggle to recruit staff.

Factories and industrial concerns in North America ordered a record 29,000 robots during the first nine months of 2021, a 37% increase on the previous year, according to the Association for Advancing Automation (A3).

Fixed-function robots have become a common feature of factory production lines, helping to manufacture everything from cars to food products. Alongside this, advances in autonomous technology have helped fuel a global robot boom with widespread applications ranging from AI-enabled mechanical fryers to autonomous industrial plant inspection units.

As the chart above shows, the use of robots and automation is on an upward trend. Leading adopters such as car manufacturers are integrating more robots into their operations, while first-time users are emerging in industries including agriculture, construction, electronics, food processing, life sciences, metalworking, warehousing and more, A3 states.

“Businesses just can’t find the people they need – that’s why they’re racing to automate,” Jeff Burnstein, President of A3, told Reuters.

Future robot roles

The combination of pandemic-induced recession and automation’s growing footprint is creating a “double-disruption”, according to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2020 report.

Short-term economic disruption caused by the response to COVID-19, coupled with a sudden switch to remote working for many, have accelerated the rate of technology adoption.

Cloud computing, big data and e-commerce adoption is expected to continue growing in the coming years, the report predicts. By 2025, cloud computing among companies that have taken part in the annual survey is expected to increase by 17% on 2018 levels, for example.

Humans vs robots: share of jobs

The allocation of tasks between humans and machines also looks set to change. Across a wide range of activities, Future of Jobs 2020 survey respondents expect robots will take on more repetitive or menial tasks and leave humans free to focus on more substantive tasks.

An estimated 85 million jobs may be displaced by this shift from human to machine workers by 2025. So, which roles will our increasingly automated future create more of, and which ones will disappear?

Across a range of industry sectors, AI, machine learning and big data specialists are in high demand, as are analysts and scientists that can interpret data.

Just as roles linked to data, automation and digital strategy are booming, several traditional jobs are disappearing, from administrative to accounting functions, assembly line work to bank tellers. The World Economic Forum predicts that automation will create 58 million more jobs than it displaces.

What is the World Economic Forum doing about the Fourth Industrial Revolution?

The World Economic Forum was the first to draw the world’s attention to the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the current period of unprecedented change driven by rapid technological advances. Policies, norms and regulations have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation, creating a growing need to fill this gap.

The Forum established the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network in 2017 to ensure that new and emerging technologies will help—not harm—humanity in the future. Headquartered in San Francisco, the network launched centres in China, India and Japan in 2018 and is rapidly establishing locally-run Affiliate Centres in many countries around the world.World Economic Forum | Centre for the Fourth Industrial R…

The global network is working closely with partners from government, business, academia and civil society to co-design and pilot agile frameworks for governing new and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, blockchain, data policy, digital trade, drones, internet of things (IoT), precision medicine and environmental innovations.

Learn more about the groundbreaking work that the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network is doing to prepare us for the future.

Want to help us shape the Fourth Industrial Revolution? Contact us to find out how you can become a member or partner.

With the pace of technological change accelerating, training, reskilling and upskilling the workforce is becoming increasingly important to prevent a widening skills gap. As more robots are employed to take on more tasks, the Forum says it is vital companies and policymakers support at-risk or displaced workers to learn new skills and adapt to the evolving world of work.