Apple and Samsung supplier Foxconn has reportedly replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots.

One factory has "reduced employee strength from 110,000 to 50,000 thanks to the introduction of robots", a government official told the South China Morning Post.

Xu Yulian, head of publicity for the Kunshan region, added: "More companies are likely to follow suit."

China is investing heavily in a robot workforce.

In a statement to the BBC, Foxconn Technology Group confirmed that it was automating "many of the manufacturing tasks associated with our operations" but denied that it meant long-term job losses.

"We are applying robotics engineering and other innovative manufacturing technologies to replace repetitive tasks previously done by employees, and through training, also enable our employees to focus on higher value-added elements in the manufacturing process, such as research and development, process control and quality control.

"We will continue to harness automation and manpower in our manufacturing operations, and we expect to maintain our significant workforce in China."

Since September 2014, 505 factories across Dongguan, in the Guangdong province, have invested 4.2bn yuan (£430m) in robots, aiming to replace thousands of workers.

Kunshan, Jiangsu province, is a manufacturing hub for the electronics industry.

Economists have issued dire warnings about how automation will affect the job market, with one report, from consultants Deloitte in partnership with Oxford University, suggesting that 35% of jobs were at risk over the next 20 years.

Former McDonald's chief executive Ed Rensi recently told the US's Fox Business programme a minimum-wage increase to $15 an hour would make companies consider robot workers.

"It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who is inefficient, making $15 an hour bagging French fries," he said.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36376966

Well, at least its hard to call robot work "slave labor".
I hope China has a job program ready because the CCP is doing a very poor job in providing social security and economical stability in China.

Good news, human progress

Here we go, lack of human respect and understanding. 60K people out of work. Unable to provide for their families let alone themselves. How cruel and greedy. True, a business is made to make money, not break even. But Foxconn wasn't hurting for money last time I checked.

"It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who is inefficient, making $15 an hour bagging French fries," he said.

Once again, as I posted in a similar thread, thinking this way will destroy the gradient from rich to poor and there will only be rich and poor people. No middle class. And man, what a corrupt world that's gonna be.

They where (forced)working them 16hours a day, with really low pay.

They had to install those suicide nets to catch people jumping off roofs, because of how unhappy they where working there.

If they treat the worker that bad, and it still pays off to not use them... theres no hope for the avg joe worker.

"Economists have issued dire warnings about how automation will affect the job market, with one report, from consultants Deloitte in partnership with Oxford University, suggesting that 35% of jobs were at risk over the next 20 years."

World economies will collapse due to this stuff.

And it's not like Foxconn or Apple weren't making enough money. Funny thing is that Foxconn is a Taiwanese company. Chinese companies like Oppo have better pay and better means in their factories.

That's what the people wanted, right?

The timing of this is weird.

I'm kinda for this.

thanks obama.