02/16/2022

Bring on the Bots

The antidote to the Great Resignation, plunging birthrate is the robot revolution

Elon Musk, never one for understatement, recently said that "one of the biggest risks to civilization” is that there “are not enough people" because the "foundation of the economy is labor." He was reacting both to long-term trends and to the recent lockdown-induced collapse in America’s birthrate. Now, with the Great Resignation—working-age Americans voluntarily quitting jobs in huge numbers—in full swing, the challenges of a shrinking workforce have accelerated into our present.

Musk's solution? Encourage people to have children (amen). And deploy robots. He's right on both counts. But the robots can make a bigger difference, and faster, not only boosting productivity but also creating new jobs for humans.

Last year saw more than 1 million more baby boomers exit the workforce than was happening annually pre-lockdown. Not long before the pandemic, a common refrain was that boomers were staying in the workforce too long, longer than their parents did, and thus robbing millennials of jobs and advancement opportunities.

Please select this link to read the complete article from City Journal.