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Robots Are Catching Up to Humans in the Jobs Race


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warehouse robot

Face of the future?

A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco found that increased adoption of robotics and automation equipment has been a substantial driver of the declining labor share of income for U.S. workers, even during a period of extremely low unemployment.

The Robotic Industries Association's data shows that the U.S. industrial robotics market is by far the biggest in North America. Mexico is now the second-biggest market, and has been bigger than Canada for several years.

But Mexico's manufacturing wages are not similar to Canada's. Last year, Canada's average manufacturing wage (in U.S. dollars) was $19.31 per hour. In Mexico last month, it was $2.60. Robot shipments in Mexico are exceeding those in Canada despite manufacturing wages, not because of them.

In real terms, the price for an industrial robot has fallen by more than 60% in 20 years. They also get better as they get cheaper.

From Bloomberg
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