Hiring Robots Instead Of Employees

Technology and jobs are two topics that go together.

What is the impact of technology going to be on jobs? Many feel that the future is like the past: that we will create more jobs due to technology than we destroy.

This is a statement by the technology maximalists. These people believe that the future will, indeed, equal the past. The problem with this is that it might not be true. When we look at the US labor participation rate, we see the high was hit in Feb, 2000. Hence, we are on a downward trek the past 22 years. For this reason, it is my presumption that job losses due to technological advancement are already taking place.

As we can see from the linked chart, in Fed 2020, we were at 63.4% participation. Now, as of the end of 2021, we see the number at 61.9%. In other words, we are still not back to pre-COVID levels.

It is a situation that will come as no shock to readers of this blog. We often discuss the disruption in employment that is taking place. Employees are moving around for better conditions while companies are compensating through the addition of technology. This is going to take a while to run its course but there is one thing for certain: we are not returning to how things were in early 2020.

Hiring People Is Becoming Passe

In the past, when the economy improved and companies were in need of more workers, they simply went out to hire more people. This is how things were for hundreds of years. Have a job to fill, get more people to do it.

We are dealing with a completely different world these days. What if, instead of putting up an ad to hire more workers, a robot was hired instead? Do you think this a realistic option?

In some instances, this is exactly what is taking place.

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Polar Manufacturing It has been manufacturing metal hinges, locks and brackets in southern Chicago for more than 100 years. Some of the company’s metal presses – large machines standing on one worker – date back to the 1950s. Last year, Polar hired its first robot worker to meet growing demand amid labor shortages.

This is something we see across the world. Companies are now turning to automation to meet "labor shortages".

In this instance, it turned to Formic.

Jose Figueroa, who runs Polar’s production line, says the cost of a robot rented from a company called Formic is equivalent to $ 8 per hour compared to the minimum wage of $ 15 per person. Figueroa says the robot’s deployment has allowed a human worker to do different things and increase productivity.

The company did have to pay for the robot but, as we can see, there is a cost savings for every hour that it is running. This will help to create a return on only a few years.

It was important that Polar first had to pay $ 100,000 to buy the robot and then spend more money to program it. Figueroa says he would like to see 25 robots on the line in five years. He does not plan to replace any of the company’s 70 employees, but says Polar may not need to hire new employees.

Source

The last part is crucial. While this is not going to replace any workers, it will probably eliminate the need to add more workers in the future. This means any expansion is going to occur without an increase in human workers.

Of course, as we can see, the growth will come in the number of robots employed.

Labor Shortage To Human Excess

The challenge with the trend is where does it stop? While companies are crying about a "labor shortage", it appears this is simply due to the fact they are unwilling to increase pay to the point where the shortage is eliminated. The equilibrium of the labor market is always in play. Right now, companies are still trying to get away on the cheap, something they did for near 50 years.

As mentioned earlier, we are seeing a paradigm shift in the labor market. Each side is exercising new powers, which is causing great upheaval.

Corporations are turning to technology, something that is not going to stop. In this instance, with Polar, there might not be jobs lost. However, that is not going to be the case across the board. At present, the focus might be on the shortage yet there will come a time when the line is crossed. Once that happens, shortage becomes excess.

Let us use autonomous trucking. It is well known there is a shortage in drivers. This is simply not a field people are going into. For this reason, billions are being spent trying to get autonomous trucking going. There are many believe this will be achieved in the next few years.

Once we are at that point, it is only a question of how quickly can the new trucks be produced. Scaling of production will take place, putting more of these trucks on the road. The question arises, however, what happens when they make up for the shortfall? Do they stop manufacturing more autonomous trucks?

Of course not. The focus will then turn to the existing fleet where humans are involved. This is the excess that companies will seek to eliminate.

How many other industries will see a similar path? What is the number of jobs at risk from this?

And what does this mean for those seeking future employment when the firms will no longer be hiring since they reached their "human limit". Any expansion, at that point, means adding in more robots.

Also, we have to keep in mind this is a 2022 story, using present day technology. Perhaps we could see a time when the cost of renting a robot might only be $3 or $4 per hour. Couple this with the fact it does not require a benefit package or any time off and you can see how much this will alter things.

It is becoming evident that the hiring of robots is preferred to employees. After all, it does help the bottom line.


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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
Week 89 of my contest just started...you can now check the winners of the previous week!
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in the future we can face a lot of unemployment cause as fat I think people will start using robots as workers almost everywhere and we need to think about what will happen if lot of people are unemployed

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are you saying robots will make people fat?

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who knows but we can be sure some will and some won't have jobs to make money and eat or gov will provide for them

people like me how to work from home

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haha, what a scary future!

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agree that hell of a future also we will facing with population problem in few decades as space on earth become scarce and also recourse

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I am in the camp of massive unemployment at some point due to technology.

Many disagree but my view is the pace it is going, it will happen. The next 5 years should tell us. The Participate Rate is something to watch.

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agree I hope we all live to witness

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a lot of these Blockchain Games use Bots in order to stay open 24/7. So a human can always play a game even if no other humans are up late at night to play. Some game like Ragnarok say the game is "unbotable". But I know Splinteralnds has a challenge with Bots and some newer games will encourage Bots at first to gain traction. I think they are making it less profitable to Bot as well as make sure BOTS can't play for free and "steal" free rewards. A bit off topic to your article however there's much talk of people working as gamers full time / Play to earn. Now these gamers will be competing against Bots or will we eventually all be Bot owners watching our Bots Play?

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I think it's something to think about as well. A think perhaps the worst part of robots and AI automating and outperforming us in things is on the digital platform. It's the water to the fish, the air to the human, the home to the computer. Digital jobs and earning methods, P2E, software management, website work, translating, damn even programming itself; They're getting pretty damn good. The only think we can really outdo them on is stuff like this, blogging. Even then, bots can potentially run an entire blog themselves though mostly informative. I think think any type of automation is at its best when humans have a role to play alongside it.

Even beyond P2E, any game that has a potential to make money, in-game or black market, is ridden with bot issues. A classic example would be Runescape or specifically now OSRS: Bots were always a problem, but with advancement in technology they are becoming quicker and cheaper to replace a banned bot, bots are harder to detect, and worst of all bots are beginning to outperform players at even the most complex gameplay like PvP.

"Now these gamers will be competing against Bots or will we eventually all be Bot owners watching our Bots Play?"

I wonder that too though, either you need to have a very good and strict bot policy, or you need some way to essentially disadvantage these bots vs. the usual player. Otherwise it really is a matter of time before it is out of control. The more simple a game, the more prone it is to bots being at the top. Do you think it's beyond somebody to create the Deep Blue of Splinterlands within the next couple years? I get that an investment is needed, but it's nothing. In Runescape, for example, people will pay well over $1000 USD for a good custom script. That's not even a P2E game. Games like ETH have somewhat of a large investment requirement, and are more protected from mass bots, while games like this 1 account with a rented deck is probably 1/10 of the theoretical script value.

Swinging back to jobs topic: I think that AI and automation technology has replaced more jobs, or at the least daily human tasks, then we realize. In the physical world, a robot is pretty tough to deal with. You've got 1000X the things to consider vs. a mostly or fully digital robot. (So essentially just a computer) It's hard to implement robots into the outside world beyond a factory or other contained environments. It's not as simple as sending a robot out to fix a pothole in the road, there's kind of a lot to consider and the robot has to be most likely be made just for that.
Meanwhile, online, you have tons of things being replaced or getting closer and closer to full automation every day. That's easy to do by comparison most of the time, as you can sit at the computer and figure it out over time, with little real resources needed by comparison to a physical robot.

I think I went on a bit of a rant here but all in all I love automation, I just think it needs to be implemented carefully and even from a political/legal standpoint it can't be ignored. It's perhaps a bit frighting, but I think it is also very exciting. In gaming though, I can say I am a lot less appreciative of bots because I consider gaming, especially p2e, to be entirely focused around a human spending their time and attention. If P2E was 100% bots, what's really the difference between that and something like staking, liquidity pools or other standard defi investments?
I don't know anything though, just some food for thought.

Speaking of food have some !PIZZA

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automation definitely has it's place for mundane tasks, however I think the point of gaming should be for fun and entertainment. But once big paydays come into place people will always be looking for that advantage to get that profit.

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I presume there is room for both.

Some games will be tokenized completely and, perhaps, botted.

However others will simply be for fun. We will see some become like professional sports; it is a game yet also a business.

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im 100% doing like 100- auto blogs on steem lol

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Automation results in an advancement of society. It is technology that pushes people forward.

So for all the problems, we see the furthering of society. It always makes me laugh to see people complaining about technological progress on a technology like the Internet and a mobile phone.

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There is no doubt what you say is true. But then, isn't a bot effectively a business? Doesn't it generate a return without human interaction other than the coding and maintenance?

So there are many factors that come into play. We will see how we work things out.

What if, for example, the bots were DAOs and people could buy in? How would that change things?

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BOT DAO'S could be on the Horizon ! I think some games have conceded they can't stop BOT's so they change the economics of the games to ensure the BOTS can't freeload off of any free rewards.

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I think a lot of development is being done based upon making it very difficult to Bot. That is something the teams behind the games are well aware of.

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The big benefit of hiring robots over people are

  • They don't need 401ks
  • They don't need health insurance
  • They don't talk back (well at least most of the time)
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Yes, employing the use of robots has it advantages but it doesn't mean industries should completely do away with humans. Unemployment rate might just record higher percentages.

Remember, robots

  • can't have conversations
  • will require more maintenance costs

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People need to learn how to adapt and learn new relevant skills, like building and programing the robots or learning how to maintain the machines. But really it's nothing new, we have been replacing tasks with tech for a long time. I think we still have a long way to go before we get to any kind of iRobot situation.

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Apt!

Technology is insanely growing. It will be a grave mistake to not grab a few digital skills that'll open up opportunities for earning.

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That is the common argument put forth. But you are presuming that most have the ability to adapt in the manner you speak of.

Is a 50 year old truck driver or HR employee going to learn coding? Are tens of millions of them?

And how do we know coding isn't going to be automated down the road? People seem to think new jobs that are created will be for humans, they might well be for the automated entities.

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(Edited)

Oh of course not... But in that example, they will need to learn how to operate a more automated truck. I do not see fully automated trucking coming any time soon really. By the time that happens, the 50 year old trucker will hopefully be retired, lol. I think there will always be a need for human interaction, especially in transportation. I know allot of people in trucking and logistics, and they even say we are still a long way off. I used to be a driver myself, more local delivery and school buses, but I know that industry. Heck Tesla can't even get its semi into full production yet with the constant delays. And then it will not even be fully automated. There will still require a driver. It will just allow drivers to do their job easier, of course this is my opinion.

But if their lively hood depends on it, yes, I will say they will need to learn whatever skills they will need to learn to adapt to the changing environment or be left in the dust with their thumbs stuck up their butts not knowing which way to spin. Not necessarily coding but there is other things that will be needed. People still have to build things.

Heck my parents have been having some struggles just in their art world. They are constantly having to adapt to new things to keep up with making a living. All of their shows are now basically being digitized as far as jurying and that sort of thing, so my mom has been the one to have to learn how to handle all of that kind of stuff while my dad has been teaching himself how to use Photoshop so he can up his game for his artwork. So it's everywhere. Again, people have been having to learn to adapt for years, else you might as well head to PA and join the Amish, lol.

I don't think we will be sinking into the metaverse like allot of people in this space think we are on a grand scale, at least for a long time. I still deal will people and businesses off line and many of them don't even know how to handle their current software without their dedicated tech guy around. I mean look at the crypto space alone... Yes, there is allot of growth going on, but we are still EXTREMELY early when you talk to the average joe.

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Robots are a preferred choice of labor. They won't tire out and you don't have to deal with any laws about wages or taxes either.

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That is true. When you consider the cost of employees, it goes far beyond the wages you pay them. The "benefits" that are paid, even if not direct to the workers, adds up.

Think of insurance, unemployment, taxes, water coolers and coffee machines, office space, and an entire HR department.

None of that is needed for robots.

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I have worked in middle management before both in the government and private sector and the hardest part of the job was dealing with everyone's drama. A robot workforce would negate this making management trade for a robotic engineer and or robotic technician.

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Robot are good but not sustainable growth, calls for constant maintenance and breaks which could affect the company ( we see this with our beloved splinter lands constantly shutting down for maintenance atleast the incentivise the players for the down time). Companies will not have this easy because it will chew into the companies profits and expansion will become more expensive to replace old bots. Humans will just have to accept it's time to look for other opportunities or develop to always be useful to the companies. This one is a double edged sword both have pros and cons but the job market will not be the same again. From now onwards governments, people and companies have to accept the only constant is change

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Have you seen the cost of employees?

And yes there are times that the robots/machines have to be replaced. However, the new machine is better than the previous version.

The same is mostly not true with a human. An experienced employee leaves and the new one has to be trained. Hence the organization suffers a step backwards, at least temporarily.

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Very true..This one is a double edged sword..Both sides have there ills and advanteges in some industries bots are way better

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Companies always try to be more efficient and reduce costs. Labor is an expense and therefore they will try to replace it. In addition, robots have many more advantages and are more predictable. What I wonder is if robots will be taxed at some point and how this will affect their productivity.

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Of course, it is only sensible to believe governments will try to get their hands in on it and suck more money out of the private sector.

No matter what the development, politicians think they deserve the money as a result of the innovation.

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We are dealing with a completely different world these days. What if, instead of putting up an ad to hire more workers, a robot was hired instead? Do you think this a realistic option?

I sincerely hope so, because the business I'm building relies heavily on that lol

I really believe that's the future and that's a good thing. We'll need to learn to adapt during the transition phase but I'm a firm believer that the net effect of technology incorporation is always positive.

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It seems to be the trend. We will see if it reverses course at some point but the human to robot ratio seems to be going through a change.

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Ordinarily one will think it will be a great and bright idea replacing robots with humans until one considers factors such as affordability and high cost of maintenance of this technology made beings.

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(Edited)

Inasmuch as I love technology and appreciate what it has done for the world, it has an adverse effect too as seen here. Robots replacing humans isn't new though but there's nothing anyone can actually do to stop that because robots usage has lots of advantages over using humans as labour force. On the other hand, using robots will require a higher cost in terms of maintenance and acquisition/ building of robots.

However, while employing the use of robots, industries should allocate spaces for humans. Humans need these jobs too.

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It was about time we started moving away from manual labor IMO. Those repetitive jobs that can be performed with robots seem to have an impact on people over time. I for one can't stand performing a repetitive pattern every day because it makes you kinda dull and it is extremely boring after just a few months.

I'm only hoping that all those people that get replaced will find their way of making a living independently. We can't all be bloggers on Hive but I'm sure new industries and opportunities will arise from this.

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One of the views is that we spend much of the last 20 years in the developed world creating jobs for the sake of creating jobs. There was a popular book called "Bullshit Jobs" based upon a paper by the same name. It was a study how most of the jobs we created were just to employ people and really did not add much value to the economy.

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Robot is one of the best choice for efficiency but now the demand higher education will kept rising because they will need more people who just only know how to package the robots but know how to program them. So the only people that will be on jobs orders mostly are going to be programmers, software tech, in fact in web people and they must be professionals.
The new generation will have lots on their hands to deal with.

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100% agree... The statement: "This is a statement by the technology maximalists. These people believe that the future will, indeed, equal the past." will not hold up. As you stated as well. Not only does the technology maximalists say this, but this is also what the general public believe. Why this is, can be summarised with a very few words: "Fourth Industrial Revolution". Only a very few individuals in our societies understand what this revolution will result into hence they believe in we will see in the future what we've seen in the past, Those who do understand what the 4th industrial revolutions are about and what impact it'll have, realise the world we live in now will be seen in 3o to 50 years from now as a world that looks like 200 years ago.

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An automated robot workforce has always been in the future. We were just waiting on the technology to develop and become more affordable.
Back in the day if you wanted to make a video or even photograph products for catalogs, you needed expensive equipment and people that know how to operate them. Now I can do all of that with my iPhone upload to the net and start monetizing.
What worries me are these automated cars and trucks. This may be silly, I may be old, but I can just imagine the chaos that would be caused by malfunctioning vehicles on the road cruising at 70 MPH.

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