The International Federation of Robotics, an industry group, estimates that China will account for more than a third of all industrial robots installed worldwide by 2018 and Foxconn, perhaps the world’s largest electronic manufacturer, has recently displaced 60,000 workers. Second, the very forces which have brought this dislocation have begun to disrupt services, just as they have done in the OECD economies. Therefore, in the face of an ICT revolution only just gaining its maturity, the services are not a safe haven for employment. Today’s shiny outsourcing and call centre office blocks in Bangalore may be tomorrow’s follies, a monument to the glory of a passing fashion.
Source: Circular economy in emerging markets: an introduction – Circulate