Automation has doubled in global manufacturing

The use of robots in US manufacturing has more than tripled over the two decades, and has doubled in the rest of the world, replacing certain categories of worker, according to a report published Monday. As of 2017, automation in the United States had risen to 1.8 robots for every 1,000 workers from just 0.5 recorded 22 years earlier, according to research by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The report found the highest prevalence of robots in the auto sector, with France in the lead, followed by the United States and Germany. Automation has eroded the number of intermediate middle-skill occupations, while the share of high-skill and low-skill positions has grown, it said.