Robotic Workforce of the Future

These are uncertain times for workers in the western world. There is an increasing fear of seeing jobs outsourced to low cost economies or lost to the wave of cheap immigrants coming onshore. Unfortunately these fears are often exaggerated because technology is actually an even most disruptive force of change for workers. It may not be good news therefore, for those who fear change, that the cost of robot technologies is falling fast. When robots first appeared in factories in the 1960s, they could only do the simplest of tasks such as moving objects from one production line to another. With advance to robotic technology, robots today are adept at jobs more usually done by semi-skilled workers, such as cutting, welding and operating warehouses. Even better since 1990 the average price of robots has plunged by as much as 75% in comparison with labour compensation. Beyond the paranoia, the advance of robots is great news for humanity as economic development depends on improvement of productivity and efficient allocation of scarse resources. Plenty of people will talk of doom and gloom as more robots displace workers from routine jobs but quietly the economy will evolve and, while the media will decry the layoffs, new jobs and a new economy will blossom into a new age of innovation (political studipity and populism permitting of course).