被機(jī)器人“下崗”的打工者

所屬教程:金融時(shí)報(bào)原文閱讀

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2020年08月17日

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被機(jī)器人“下崗”的打工者

隨著工業(yè)機(jī)器人技術(shù)的逐漸成熟，智庫(kù)稱(chēng)外來(lái)務(wù)工人員將慢慢被機(jī)器人取代。

測(cè)試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識(shí)：

warehousing 儲(chǔ)倉(cāng)['we?ha?z??]

auto-enrolment 自動(dòng)加入

apprenticeship 學(xué)徒期；學(xué)徒身分[?'prent?(s)??p]

precedent 先例；前例['pres?d(?)nt]

susceptible 易受影響的[s?'sept?b(?)l]

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Robots could replace migrant workers, says think-tank （420 words）

By Delphine Strauss

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Britain’s decision to leave the EU will force companies that rely on migrant labour to rethink their business models, if it leads to restrictions on low-skilled immigration. For some, robots may be the most likely replacement, according to a report by the Resolution Foundation think-tank. Almost one third of the workforce in food manufacturing are EU migrants. More than a fifth of domestic personnel are from the EU, and more than one in eight workers in sectors ranging from agriculture to warehousing and textiles manufacturing.

An end to free movement of labour would – other things being equal — make it more costly to fill these jobs. Given other changes such as the living wage, auto-enrolment in workplace pensions and the apprenticeship levy, there will be a strong incentive for employers to invest in automation.

This does not have to be a bad thing, the think-tank argues. The ready supply of cheap workers has allowed UK employers to get away with relatively low levels of capital investment for many years, a trend that has become even more evident since the global financial crisis.

“What the UK needs – with its high employment, terrible productivity performance and low investment – is more robots,” said Adam Corlett, analyst at the Resolution Foundation. The think-tank suggests that new technologies will be crucial to a recovery in UK productivity and pay growth.

There is some precedent for employers replacing migrants with machines: in the US, mechanisation transformed California’s tomato industry when the supply of Mexican farm labourers through the Bracero programme ended.

However, some sectors — such as food manufacturing or food service — are far more susceptible to rapid automation than others. In other areas, such as cleaning or transport, there is far less scope for innovation. Employers are more likely to look again at training and career structures, and lobby government to allow immigration where there are sectoral shortages.

Automation — while it can destroy certain types of jobs, with serious effects on places and people — does not necessarily threaten overall employment, the report argues.

Middle-skilled manufacturing jobs have suffered a huge decline over the past 30 years as a share of total hours worked; but new roles have emerged in science, IT, health and caring. This helps to explain why there has been little change in the distribution of pay, while the UK employment rate has risen to a record high.

Both business and government, Mr Corlett concludes, must “make some pretty big calls on what investment and labour supply will look like in a post-Brexit economy”.

請(qǐng)根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測(cè)題目：

1. What kind of industries may rethink their business models after Brexit?

A. technology-intensive industry

B. labour concentrated industry

C. technology-intensive industry

D. capital concentrated industry

2. Which one is not mentioned as a strong incentive for employers to invest in automation?

A. living wage

B. auto-enrolment in workplace pensions

C. cheap labour force

D. the apprenticeship levy

3. Which country’s employers have been replaced by machines in tomato industry?