When machines become cheaper than people to employ, watch out. This is not a case of the $15 minimum wage but it is sobering. From Yahoo:
Walmart is cutting 7,000 jobs due to automation, and it’s not alone
At the beginning of the year, we reported that robots were expected to replace some five million jobs by 2020. It’s not even the end of the year yet, and this prediction already seems well on its way to coming true. The clairvoyant folks over at the World Economic Forum warned of a “Fourth Industrial Revolution” involving the rise of the machine in the workforce, and the latest company to lend credence to that claim is none other than Walmart, which is planning on cutting 7,000 jobs on account of automation.
The retail giant joins other companies like Foxconn and Wendy’s, which both made headlines earlier in 2016 for making similar workforce decisions. Foxconn’s casualties were the most pronounced, as the electronics maker cut some 60,000 factory jobs and replaced them with machines. And Wendy’s cited the rising cost of labor and competition among fast food chains as motivation for its own decision to replace some cashiers with kiosks. After all, how much friendly service are you really expecting with your burger and fries?
But the Walmart decision may be a bit more alarming for those in the workforce. As the Wall Street Journal reports, the most concerning aspect of America’s largest private employer might be that the eliminated positions are largely in the accounting and invoicing sectors of the company. These jobs are typically held by some of the longest tenured employees, who also happen to take home higher hourly wages.
These people are being replaced by high-end cash counting machines and different accounting procedures already tried at 500 locations since the beginning of this year.
Tell me again why we need so many illegals in our nation - don't we have enough unemployment among our naturalized citizens already?
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