According to a report by TechRepublic, “robotics will lead to the loss of up to 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide by 2030.” There are ups and downs to the trend, of course. Here are the good, the bad, and the ugly stats and trends per the report:

The Good	The Bad	The Ugly
The global stock of industrialized robots has more than doubled since 2010	Around 1.7 million manufacturing jobs have already been lost to robots since 2000	Manufacturing since 2000: 260,000 jobs lost in the US400,000 jobs lost in Europe 550,000 jobs lost in China
Robotization will ultimately boost productivity and economic growth	Each new robot installation replaces an average of 1.6 manufacturing employees	By 2030, the global manufacturing workforce (of humans) could shrink by 8.5%
Robotization will create new jobs at a similar rate that it destroys old jobs	More than half of US workers who have left production jobs in the past two decades moved to jobs in transportation, construction, maintenance, and office and administrative work—sectors most vulnerable to future automation
A 30% rise in robot installations above the baseline forecasts for 2030 would lead to a 5.3% boost to global GDP that year, equivalent to nearly $5 trillion	The displacement of jobs due to the rise of robots will impact poorer regions the most	Lower-skilled regions (weaker economies, high unemployment rates) will be most vulnerable to the loss of jobs due to robots

 

Okay, so what is the HR professional supposed to do about the rise of AI in manufacturing?
Here are a few suggestions as influenced by a recent article from Industry Week:

1. Hire candidates with AI expertise
2. Upskill employees without AI expertise
3. Partner up or communicate with AI companies to learn more
4. Promote opportunities to learn more about AI in relevant communities
5. Offer incentives to employees who pursue professional development in AI

Are you in the market to simplify your HR initiatives? At Broadleaf Results, we have the talent and expertise to help you best manage your workforce.

 

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