MGM Seeks To Replace 2,000 Workers With Robots By 2020
MGM
Seeks To Replace 2,000 Workers With Robots By 2020
by
Tyler Durden Thu, 02/20/2020 - 15:30 Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk,
Despite
a contract that prohibits MGM from using robots to displace workers, the casino
seeks to implement those plans.
VegasSlotsOnline
reports MGM Could Replace Many Employees with Robots
MGM,
one of the major global casino companies, is considering replacing some workers
with robots, which will cause some concern for their employees and those in the
industry as a whole.
The
Las Vegas Culinary Union (LVCU), which represents bartenders, kitchen staff,
and wait staff, reached a five-year deal in June 2018 with the MGM.
The
agreement guarantees that MGM will not implement any technology that would have
a negative impact on employment. However, the news that the MGM is considering
replacing some workers with robots could mean that the company is not willing to
fulfill this agreement.
Short
Synopsis
• MGM is thinking about replacing
workers with robot technology in its Las Vegas Strip properties
• Its 2020 plan calls for reducing the
workforce by about 2,100 people to save $300 million in the coming years
• Unions and workers will likely react
strongly to such a move
• A McKinsey and Company report
estimates that by 2030, 800 million jobs will get robot replacements
Why
any company would agree to a long-term contract forcing them to not reduce
costs is a mystery. The article did not say how MGM could get around the
contract.
McKinsey
Study
The
McKinsey study the article cites is from November of 2017. Thus it's a bit
dated. Nonetheless, please consider Jobs lost, jobs gained: What the future of
work will mean for jobs, skills, and wages.
The
technology-driven world in which we live is a world filled with promise but
also challenges. Cars that drive themselves, machines that read X-rays, and
algorithms that respond to customer-service inquiries are all manifestations of
powerful new forms of automation. Yet even as these technologies increase
productivity and improve our lives, their use will substitute for some work
activities humans currently perform—a development that has sparked much public
concern.
We
estimate that between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be
displaced by automation and need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world,
based on our midpoint and earliest (that is, the most rapid) automation
adoption scenarios. New jobs will be available, based on our scenarios of
future labor demand and the net impact of automation, as described in the next
section.
However,
people will need to find their way into these jobs. Of the total displaced, 75
million to 375 million may need to switch occupational categories and learn new
skills, under our midpoint and earliest automation adoption scenarios; under
our trendline adoption scenario, however, this number would be very small—less
than 10 million
Potential
vs Reality
• Potential to displace and actually
doing it are two different things. No one knows what the future will hold.
• Some things are easy to foresee,
however.
• Millions on interstate truck driving
jobs will vanish early in the cycle, no later than 2024, but I strongly suggest
one to two years before that.
• Taxi and limo jobs will vanish at the
same time or perhaps a year or two later.
• The push for $15 will speed up
adaptation of robots that cook, tend bars, etc,. We already see more
self-checkout lanes and that process will speed up.
• Yet, there will be new jobs. There
always are. Where? I don't know.
• How many people in 2000 gave much
thought to the possibility of self-driving trucks?
The
problem is today's bartenders, truck drivers, and McDonald's workers will not
be able to retain for jobs when we have no idea where those jobs will be.
Boomer
Easy Street
Boomers
had it easy. I was able to quickly switch into computer programming from a
degree in civil engineering. One class, my free elective at the University of
Illinois, Advanced PL1 Programming, was all it took.
One
does not easily switch careers today based on one college class.
If
you hold a useless in degree in humanities, English, etc., you will have skills
necessary to work at McDonalds, bartend, be a server, or a teacher.
But
those jobs are among those that will vanish.
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