Rise of The Industrial Robots

Chilling news from the Institute of Directors today. 

Up to 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide could be replaced by robots by 2030, according to new research. 
 
Oxford Economics said that every new industrial robot renders 1.6 manufacturing jobs obsolete. Lower-skilled regions are more likely to be impacted as these areas tend to have higher unemployment rates and weaker economies already. 
 
Furthermore, people who move out of manufacturing work often go on to work in transport, construction, maintenance and office and administration roles – and these jobs are also susceptible to automation. 
 
Oxford Economics has called on society to consider how to develop workforce skills to adapt to increasing automation. Around 1.7 million manufacturing jobs have been lost around the world to robots since 2000. 
 
The company forecasts China will have 14 million industrial robots by 2030, while Britain could have several hundreds of thousands. 

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