What if this is the future of assembly lines?
What would happen in future when robots replace human beings in such low skilled repetitive jobs?
It won’t be long before such low-skilled jobs will be automated and robots would replace human labour. Robots are cheaper in the long run as compared to human labour. Using robots would mean that there is no need for bonuses, health insurance, medical leave or loss of productivity. Furthermore, robots are able to work long hours which is something human beings are not able to do.
When that time comes, the low skilled laborers would be left jobless, and it would be unlikely for them to find another job because in this globalized world, such low skilled jobs would be scarce. These workers would have problems maintaining their quality of life and even their survival would be problematic.
Division of labour definitely has its pros, such as the increase in efficiency and lower costs of production. However, with these advantages comes disadvantages as well. As most of these production lines are owned by profit maximizing capitalists, there is a high possibility of the capitalists exploiting the cheap labour and production costs, and increasing profits for themselves without passing on this wealth to the laborers. These laborers are stuck in this vicious cycle and they are unable to get out of it as they do not have much disposable income or savings most of the time. They are unable to go for retraining or higher their educational level due to this and are only able to do such low paying menial jobs. When capitalists replace these laborers with machines, they will be caught in poverty.
The government can do their part by helping to implement retraining schemes for these laborers to help obtain higher level skills to allow them to enter the knowledge-based industries or higher skilled manufacturing industries.
Another issue would be that of child labour. The International Labor Organization defines child labor as “work situations where children are compelled to work on a regular basis to earn a living for themselves and their families, and as a result are disadvantaged educationally and socially; where children work in conditions that are exploitative and damaging to their health and to their physical and mental development; where children are separated from their families, often deprived of educational and training opportunities; where children are forced to lead prematurely adult lives.” These children are exploited as they are paid very low wages, or no wages at all. They are also forced to work very long hours daily, thus leaving no time or finances for education. These children are forced into the vicious cycle of poverty as they have to work from a very young age and do not have the oppotunity to learn. Education is a very important part of a child’s life and it is essential in order to get a higher paying and higher skilled job which would help to improve their living conditions. Without education, they would only be able to work in such low skilled jobs with very low pay which is sometimes not even enough to make ends meet for them. I feel that parents should be educated about the harmful effects of sending their child to work at a very young age, and that the young children should be given a chance to learn basic life skills and survival skills and also be taught how to read and write. It is important for them to have such skills in order to survive in this globalized world, and not be left behind.
