Name : Ratu Ashiva (225061100111038)

Class : C, Teknik Kimia

Nowadays, it is undeniable that machines make a significant contribution to today's society and
make human life easier. People, industries, organizations, as well as companies are currently
heavily reliant on machines. Since the Industrial Revolution, machines have been transforming
the workplace. Technology has decreased the demand for low and medium-skill workers, the
young, and women since the early 1980s, particularly in manufacturing industries. Fear of job
losses due to technology began in the nineteenth century, when textile workers in Great Britain
destroyed machines out of fear of being replaced by them. This concern is understandable given
that industrial history has shown that the introduction of technologies disrupts labour demand
and increases unemployment. In the United States alone, the manufacturing sector’s share a
declined of 26% to 10% employment today (Manyika et al., 2017). However, it is certain that
during the first industrial revolution, the automation of human labour in the textile industry was
able to lower market prices and this is regarded as a benefit to businesses, causing them to
consistently adopt new technologies in the field. Especially when the advancement of technology
has been flourishing day by day and that makes businesses are highly favourable by it. Although
machines increase productivity and crucial for continued growth, they at the same time destroy
jobs and reduce labour demand. This leads to what it is called “technological unemployment”,
which is the loss of jobs as a result of technological advancement and innovation. According to
Keynes (1963), this phenomenon exists because our society adopt technologies to replace human
workers faster than creating new work. In a research conducted by Acemoglu and Restrepo
(2017), it is found that for every machine installed per 1,000 workers in the United States, the
employment-to-population ratio goes down by 0.2%, which equivalent to the loss of 400,000
jobs.

In manufacturing industry, there has always been a thirst for technology. Such technologies are
shaping the future of manufacturing by cutting the cost of production, improving the
performance of operations, and minimizing errors. Since productivity is crucial to the success of
a manufacturing plant, it is expected that all relevant companies will make considerable
investments in these technologies. Since then, much has been made of robotics and automation's
potential to perform repetitive tasks and take on jobs that humans may find too physically taxing
or dangerous for humans to handle. While it is true that people are still employed in automated
systems to undertake tasks that the machines cannot perform and to maintain the machines
themselves, the fact is that automated machines frequently replace skilled labour. This has led to
a high degree of concern over the implications of the widening use of automation for human
labour within manufacturing facilities. Simply said, large-scale automation may cause social
problems by displacing people from their jobs. Additionally, it is important to note that the
workforce group most likely to experience this disruption will be composed of those with low
levels of education. For example, in a developing country like India, the majority of middle-class
people fall into this category and are impacted the most. With automation and technological
advancements, this segment of jobs are at high risk of becoming obsolete which potentially
leading to an increase in unemployment.

In conclusion, automation machines reduced the demand for human labour, much like how cars
replaced horses as a mode of transportation and tractors replaced workers as farm equipment.
Technology is now taking the place of humans as the master of work, which poses a serious
threat to human workers. When new technology enters the workplace, it replaces (and displaces)
numerous responsibilities and roles. This systematic pattern of technology entering the
workplace and either taking over or disrupting manual areas is followed by technological
breakthroughs. Meaning that as soon as the employees' current skills become redundant or
obsolete, they will be laid off and face unemployment.
References

Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2017). Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets.
SSRN Electronic Journal . doi:10.2139/ssrn.2940245 
Keynes, J. M. (1963). Essays in persuasion. New York: W. W. Norton & Company
Manyika, J., Chui, M., Miremadi, M., Bughin, J., George, K., Willmott, P., & Dewhurst, M.
(2017). A future that works: AI, automation, employment, and productivity. McKinsey Global
Institute Research, Tech. Rep, 60, 1-135.