U.S. Agency Sees Robots Disrupting Unskilled Labor Markets by 2025

Posted on November 24, 2008

Computerworld reports on a report from the National Intelligence Council that says robots could begin disrupting unskilled labor markets by 2025.

In a report titled "Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World" that was released last week, the National Intelligence Council offered its long-range strategic thinking about the military and economic challenges the U.S. will face from other countries over the next 17 years, as well as the environmental challenges ahead. The report also looks at technologies, and it includes some sweeping ideas about the future.
IT workers have long been familiar with the ways that advances in automation can reduce the need for people, especially in data centers. By 2025, robotics technology will be far enough along to take over low-skill jobs, according to the NIC.
That could provide benefits, such as enabling robots to be used to help provide care for the elderly. But the machines also may be far enough along "to disrupt unskilled labor markets," the NIC said, adding that they could also affect immigration patterns by taking over some jobs now performed by migrant workers.

The more efficient and intelligent robots become - and the cheaper it becames to mass produce them - the more of a threat they will be to the human labor force. 2025 seems far away but if the report is accurate robots could start taking service jobs away from humans in just over 15 years. That could impact people just entering the workforce today. You can read the complete government report here. There are reasons to believe the study could be correct as there have been plenty of robots created in the last few years that can do amazing things.