Could a robot replace your job? Fears about technology’s impact on the labour market are nothing new. Way back before the International Labour Organization (ILO) came into being in 1919, the Luddites were one group of early-19th century English workers who destroyed the labour-saving textile machines which were replacing their jobs.
The anxiety that machines could kill millions of jobs in our globalized workplaces is real – and it comes at a time when the world economy is already facing a major employment crisis. The jobs gap in G20 countries stands at about 54 million and could expand to over 60 million by 2018 unless current growth trends improve.
Technology has reduced the labour required for mass production and is further hollowing out the job market by automating even routine legal and accounting tasks. Robotics is making a major breakthrough in manufacturing, with 200,000 industrial robots coming into use each year and a total of 1.5 million expected by this year (2015).
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Source & Copyright: ILO