Businesses are struggling to hire due to the labor shortage. Now, many of them are looking into using robots to do mundane jobs in replacement of workers. Robotics company Ametek, Inc. CEO David Zapico told Bloomberg News that "people want to remove labor."
Elon Musk recently said that the time where physical work is becoming optional has come as automation grows and people start to rely more on robots. But what will happen to humans?
In this picture taken on August 17, 2021, a humanoid robot delivers drinks to customers at the Dawn Cafe in Tokyo. - The cafe's launch comes with the Paralympics due to open on August 24 and disability advocates debating Japan's progress on inclusion and accessibility. (Photo by Behrouz MEHRI / AFP)
What is Causing Labor Shortage?
Labor shortages are still dragging on even after months of the Delta variant peaking. But frustrated job hunters also report that they struggle to find a job even after sending countless applications. So what's the problem?
According to Business Insider, these two concerns are the reality of today. Economists call these as mismatches, which is a disconnection between the available workforce and the open jobs.
The Insider has identified three main reasons for mismatch driving shortages and tightening opportunities these past months. One of these is because employers are looking for people with several years of experience. Sadly, this will not only fail applicants but also employers in finding the right talent for their company.
Another reason is that many employers want their employees to be available 24/7, which is unsustainable. Lastly, employees want remote flexibility, but employers want in-person employees.
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Robot Revolution Opens to a Brave New World
Regardless of the labor shortage, businesses are still operating and even use more automation than able as they see it as a viable solution to the problem, Yahoo! News reported. In the US, using automation has been a growing trend in many establishments.
For instance, restaurants that have struggled to hire for months are now using QR codes so customers can view menus and place their orders rather than have someone waiting for them. More so, Cracker Barrel recently launched a mobile app that lets customers pay for meals, and McDonald's has also started using the automated drive-thru.
Last August, Tesla CEO Elon Musk announced that their company is working on creating a "Tesla Bot" that would do dangerous, repetitive tasks so humans will not have to do it.
With this said, Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Daron Acemoglu told Bloomberg that a day would come that human labor demand would grow slowly and inequality would increase. That also means that open jobs for low education workers will not be very good.
As Greg Nichols wrote at ZDNet, the robot revolution is already here. Companies have seen the benefits of using autonomous robots, saying that they had done work equivalent to 6.8 million hours of human labor.
"We are thrilled to celebrate reaching 100 billion square feet of coverage with our fleet which represents the square footage of the entire commercial space in the United States," the CEO, Eugene Izhikevich, told ZDNet.
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