A DOZEN hefty wooden crates sit outside a small factory on the outskirts of Lucknow, the capital of India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. On the shop floor inside, where chattering machines bag and package herbal teas, a manager explains what will happen when he opens the crates. “His job will go,” he says, nodding at one boiler-suited operator. “And his over there, and that one’s too.”
Improved technology has already boosted the firm’s output fivefold since its launch in 2002, with no increase in staff. The new machines in the crates, which require a single operator rather than three, will double it again. But the manager insists that, as in the past, he will somehow find jobs for everyone—as drivers or even watchmen if necessary.
Few Indian workers have such conscientious employers. They do, however, increasingly face similar risks of redundancy, or of failing to find a decent job in the first place. A big part of the challenge stems from automation....Continue reading
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