“Melvin (one of the robots) works 24 hours a day, all three shifts, and that replaced three full operators,” Tammy Barras, president of Westec Plastics, told Reuters, adding: “We have had to increase the salaries of significantly in the last year (…) But Melvin is not asking for a raise ”.
In July, jobless claims fell significantly in the United States, signaling that more and more job openings are being filled. However, at the same time, hourly earnings increased 4%, which could indicate that there is a decrease in the number of people working in low-income jobs. And here could also fit the possibility of an increase in automation.
The minimum wage in Chicago, United States, is around $ 15 per hour . However, companies like Polar Hardware Manufacturing, based in this city in the state of Illinois, pay less than $ 10 an hour for a Formic robot. A human operator doing this robot’s type of work can earn more than $ 20 per hour. The savings are significant.
According to Reuters data, Tiger Global is one of the companies that finances companies such as Formic Technologies and, in seven months, has backed three robot firms that offer this subscription model. In addition, these types of companies received close to 6.3 billion dollars in venture funds, between March 2020 and March 2021, an increase of 50% per year, according to data from Forbes .
With information from Reuters, DailyMail and Forbes.