Robots to replace 20m manufacturing jobs by 2030: Report

Up to 20 million manufacturing jobs will be lost by 2030 due to the accelerating usage of robots across the world, according to a report issued by Oxford Economics.

The British think tank found that around 1.7 million manufacturing jobs have already been lost to robots since 2000, including around 400,000 in Europe, 260,000 in the US, and 550,000 in China.

The think tank stated, "The rate of 'robotisation' is increasing rapidly: Since 2010, the global stock of industrial robots has more than doubled."

 The study showed that each new robot installation could displace on average 1.6 manufacturing workers, reports Xinhua.
 The company said the use of robots in services industries will accelerate sharply in the next five years, meanwhile logistics, health care, retail, hospitality, and transport sectors will also be affected greatly.

On the meantime, robot usage will lead to millions of new jobs being created throughout all sectors and improve productivity growth, study showed.

"Across the world, we find that a 1.0 per cent increase in the stock of robots per manufacturing worker leads to a 0.1 per cent boost to productivity, measured by output per worker -- enough to drive meaningful growth," said the study.

Oxford Economics' Global Economic Model showed a 30 per cent rise in robot installations by 2030 would bring a 5.3 per cent boost to global GDP, compared with its current forecast.