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The advent of automation

The growing adoption of robots is having a major impact on industry, with experts split over how widespread use of technology will affect the job market

A robot may not look human, but it does the work of humans. The rise of machinery that carry out a series of complex operations automatically makes the process of automating production processes a very different thing than the adoption of, say, power looms during the Industrial Revolution.

The unprecedented technological change we are witnessing is changing the concept of work. It is estimated that 65% of children now in primary education will do professions that still do not exist.

How automation will affect society, and especially the job market, remains to be seen, but its adoption will affect many aspects of society, from education to salary levels to business productivity.

There are two lines of thought. The optimists, who think automation will create as many new professions as it destroys, and the pessimists, who say the substitution of workers with robots will lead to mass unemployment. Some studies quote frightening figures, such as there today being between 90 and 124 million jobs under threat around the world, and that unemployment in industrialised countries could reach as much as 75%. The World Economic Forum warns that by 2020, automation could wipe out 7.1 million jobs, while creating only 2.1 million new professions. CaixaBank experts predict that automation puts 43% of jobs in Spain at risk in the mid-term.

Whatever happens, we are facing a profound transformation . This is especially notable in the automotive industry. Renault and Seat technicians agree that Big Data, virtual reality and additive manufacturing (3D) are the foundations of a “change of paradigm” that will see assembly lines replaced by modular systems. Health is another area at the forefront, and Spain is second only to Japan in its capacity to apply robotisation to its health sector.

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