Economists Reveal 20 ‘Boomer’ Jobs Being Replaced By Machines

3. Packing Jobs

Another principal warehouse position at many factories was the packer, who packed goods for transport. For direct sales companies, this would mean picking a customer’s orders and then safely packaging them for shipment via mail or cargo delivery. The job requires ood hand-eye coordination and a good understanding of spatial dimensions. Also, it helps to have the ability to work quickly and accurately. That isn’t always a standard set of skills. Therefore, many mega corporations are looking to robotic packers for the future.

Installing robots in workplaces has a genuine human cost. Researchers at MIT found that “each robot replaces about 6.6 jobs locally…[and] adding one robot replaces 3.3 jobs for the country as a whole” (MIT, 2020). That doesn’t seem like much at first. However, consider corporations like Amazon that hire thousands of packers installing robots to replace those workers. It could lead to a tremendous amount of unemployment. A major issue going forward will be what to do with those workers.