No, it's not one of the usual wild predictions of some improvised research center because the advance of robots in factories and offices is real, it's a menacing reality already underway, and herein lies the surprise, it will also affect Africa.
Five African countries in fact - according to McKinsey who conducted the research on the robotization of society - will have to deal with an energetic pruning of jobs hitherto carried out by workers and employees. And this will concern - according to Mc Kinsey - soon 51,9% of workers for Kenya, 50,9% for Morocco, 48,7 for Egypt, 45,7% for Nigeria and 41% for Southern Africa.
McKinsey examined about 46 of the 200 countries that account for 80% of the world's workforce and examined them from the point of view of indices of industrialisation, industrial productivity and population ageing. Robotization serves to make the economies of industrialized countries with aging populations such as Europe, Japan and the United States more competitive.
Then there are the emerging countries such as China, Brazil and Russia in which the population tends to age more and more and robotization must keep production costs low just to maintain current growth rates. And so far the dear… old macro economy allows – for those who have studied it – to understand something: it is true, everywhere, the presence of a majority of old people represents one of the worst parameters of a country's economy such as stagnation. A little more difficult to understand is the rigid application of this umpteenth McKinsey theory also to Africa where there is no economy but many countries with very very different economies and where the vast majority of young people with increasing schooling will be a positive factor for a lot time.
McKinsey expresses a vague fear: if the governments of these countries want to remain dynamic and maintain accelerated growth rates, they will have to introduce automation in their factories. To be able to be more and more competitive. However, McKinsey, in addition to not explaining these somewhat superficial judgments in detail, does not indicate the remedies or the risks at all. Because once again we continue to have an image of Africa that absolutely does not correspond to the real one. And not to delve into its intricacies.
From the blog Paula's house.
