There is no doubt that with the continuous progress and iteration of human science and technology, some jobs will be eliminated in every era, such as the former rickshaw driver has become a taxi driver, some office workers are engaged in the Internet and word processing technology replaced, or some machine surgery technology replaces the work that should be completed by surgeons.

C2G170-24 P0973BL Over the past half century, robots have evolved dramatically. The World Economic Forum’s 2021 Annual Meeting estimated that 85 million jobs will be eliminated by 2025, but 97 million new jobs will be created at the same time.

But there are concerns about whether the additional 12 million jobs will be allocated to humans, or will they be “taken” by the growing strength of robots.

In recent years, the robot industry has been “boundless”, and the argument that “robots kill jobs” has also been widespread. However, a study by the British “Economist” magazine found that the rapid development of the robot industry not only does not support the evidence of more automation resulting in human unemployment, but there is more and more contrary evidence.

According to the report, economists from a number C2G170-24 P0973BL of research institutions in the United Kingdom and France also suggested that “the direct result of automation may be to increase employment at the firm level, rather than reduce employment.”

In the past 10 years, the number of industrial robots in the world has tripled. But in 2019, employment across advanced economies rose to an all-time high. Currently, Japan and South Korea are among the most robot-using countries, but their unemployment rates are very low. (Photo courtesy of CNSPHOTO)

The story of the “job killer” has a long history

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment in many countries soared. In the United States, the unemployment rate has not surged above 14% since the Great Depression of 1929, as it did in April 2020. But fears of prolonged high unemployment have not materialized. As of November, unemployment in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 market economies, was only slightly higher than its pre-pandemic (1999) level, according to new data.

Now, that number may even be at the same level as before the pandemic. The latest rebound in labor markets in the developed world is once again prompting economists to revisit a fundamental question: Will robots help or harm workers?

C2G170-24 P0973BL For decades, doom-and-gloom predictions about robots as “job killers” have lingered in people’s minds.

In fact, it is not just robots that are seen as “job killers” – every industrial revolution and information technology revolution has brought such concerns.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the rapid development of the cotton textile industry in Britain, the steam engine and textile machinery were widely used, resulting in a huge impact on the handicraft industry, so this group of people believed that the machine “robbed” their work. By the time of the American Civil War, improved machines were used on a large scale, and the production of spindles increased, but the number of workers was greatly reduced.

Throughout human history, it can be said that wherever the industrial revolution progresses, there will be different levels of unemployment. Mankind is currently in the midst of the sixth wave of technological revolution of the third Industrial Revolution, and the widespread C2G170-24 P0973BL use of artificial intelligence technology makes this wave different from any previous one.

This is because, if the previous machine replaced human physical labor, then this time artificial intelligence replaces mental labor, and the impact is more widespread – AlphaGo beat human chess players, driverless cars have been on the road, and the banking industry has fully adopted artificial intelligence technology to replace human labor. Tiktok’s intelligent recommendation algorithms are processing huge amounts of video information every day, which was unimaginable in the previous artificial era.

According to the World Bank’s 2016 World Development Report, 57 percent of jobs in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries are at risk of being replaced by automation over the next 20 years. Research by the McKinsey Global Institute goes even further, predicting that 400 million to 800 million jobs worldwide will be replaced by robots by 2030.

In the past 10 years, the number of industrial robots in the world has tripled. According to the classification of the International Federation of Robotics, robots can be divided into industrial robots and service robots. Industrial robots are used in manufacturing production scenarios, mainly including man-machine cooperative robots and industrial mobile robots; Service robots are generally used in non-manufacturing scenarios, mainly including personal/home service robots and public service robots.

At this rate of development, it can be said that the world is undergoing a revolution in artificial intelligence and machine learning that will impact many people’s jobs. But in 2019, employment across advanced economies rose to an all-time high. Currently, Japan and South Korea are among the most robot-using countries, but their unemployment rates are very low.

Ironically, warnings of a future of robot unemployment have created jobs for some people, who have made a lot of money from books and speeches. But not long before the coronavirus outbreak, some researchers began to question this view.