American industrialists have become more likely to buy robots to replace their employees. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Journalists refer to the report of the Association for the Development of Automation, according to which in the first quarter orders for the production of industrial robots grew by a record 40 percent compared to the same period last year. Entrepreneurs spent about $ 1.6 billion on the production and installation of machines. Increased supplies are linked to the coronavirus pandemic, which has increased absenteeism.
According to WSJ experts, US manufacturers, where there have traditionally been many workers and stable wages, have been slower to master robotics than in some other industrialized countries. In this respect, the region lags behind South Korea, Japan and Germany. In the United States, robots are commonly used in the automotive industry, where machines perform heavy routine work. However, in recent months, the devices have begun to appear in other sectors of the economy, including food production.
For example, the metal equipment company Athena has acquired seven robots in the last 18 months. According to the company, grinding welds usually took an employee about three hours, but now the robot can do it in 30 minutes. Delphon, a medical device maker, said the work had increased productivity, increasing supply by about 15 percent in 2021 and 2020.
According to Daron Asemoglu, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the growing dependence of businesses on robots will lead to a surplus of labor. This will inevitably lead to lower wages in the coming years, unless other US industries are able to accept laid-off workers.