A Record Number Of Robots Joined American Workforce In 2021 Amid COVID Labor Crunch

The impending takeover of the American labor market by robots now has a trade group to represent its interests. It’s called the Association for Advancing Automation, or A3, and according to them, 2021 was a boom year for sales: more robots joined the American workforce last year than ever before. And 2022 promises to beat those numbers by a solid margin, as early indications suggest the jobs market saw another COVID-driven contraction during January.

Companies across North America laid out more than $2 billion for almost 40K robots in 2021 as large swaths of the human labor force suddenly became immobilized by COVID and the economy-crushing lockdowns impsed not just in the US but across the globe – wreaking unprecedented supply-chain crushing havoc inside the engine of global trade.

And with demand, as it happens, surging now more than ever, the increasingly common shortages in stores across the country have made clear: it’s time to bring in the robots.

And according to A3 data cited by Reuters, companies across North America spent $2 billion for some 40K robots in 2021. Robots went to work in a growing number of industries, expanding well beyond their historic home base in the automotive sector. – READ MORE