What's actually happening to jobs?
One of the most charged questions in the automation debate, and one where forecasts vary sharply depending on who's counting and which country is being studied.
Last updated: 2026-09-25
Position
Jobs disappear, and it sounds like a platitude to say more are created than are lost — but that's what every serious forecast shows, including the World Economic Forum's own: 170 million new jobs against 92 million lost by 2030. The net figure is true. It's also irrelevant to someone who loses their job this year and doesn't get one of the new ones in five.
What we see in practice, in the businesses we talk to, is rarely dramatic. It isn't humanoids replacing employees. It's mobile robots and automation taking on the tasks no one wants or is able to staff any more — overnight transport, heavy lifting, repetitive sorting — in sectors that already struggle to recruit: warehousing, care, cleaning. The humanoid is the story. Service robotics is what actually changes a shift schedule.
Our position: the honest question isn't "do jobs disappear" — they do, they always have whenever a tool gets better. The honest question is who gets the transition paid for, and how fast. That's a conversation for unions, employers and policy together, not something a single robotics company can answer alone. What we can do is be clear about what's actually being installed and why — and never sell it as less disruptive than it is.
Data
The World Economic Forum's major jobs report counts automation as net positive through 2030: 170 million new jobs against 92 million lost — a net of plus 78 million, but with substantial reshuffling between occupations and sectors.
Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report 2025 (January 2025)