1950: Automobile Workers

In the early 1950s, automobile manufacturers began using technology to speed up production and cut down on production costs. One example is Ford Motor Company, which moved its production base to Brook Park, Ohio in 1949, and effectively cut its manpower by 90%.

More than any other area, the automotive industry was most affected at the time as it adopted robots to replace lower and middle-income workers who performed manual labor.

“Our evidence shows that robots increase productivity. They are very important for continued growth and for firms, but at the same time they destroy jobs and they reduce labor demand,” Acemoglu said. “Those effects of robots also need to be taken into account.”

President John F. Kennedy was asked to address the growing issue of technology taking over jobs in 1960, but he voiced his support for the changes, saying the machines were “not created … so that they can destroy our prosperity and our economic health,” but instead said job seekers should work to transfer their skills.

A 2020 study by MIT professor Daron Acemoglu revealed that in the U.S., every robot added to the workforce per 1,000 workers resulted in a wage decline of .42%, while the employment-to-population ratio decreased by .2% — equaling the loss of 400,000 jobs at the time.

By introducing robotic technology into the automotive industry, employees were replaced by machines that could produce more for less, including welding jobs that paid $12 an hour. The replacement of technology meant that companies could effectively pay only $3.50 per hour while increasing output.

Kennedy said in his speech, that “each advance—each more efficient machine—has not only increased production and raised our standard of living, but it has also improved drastically the hours and the conditions of labor. In an eight-hour day, five-day week, the modern worker produces more than twice as much as his grandfather did, working twelve hours a day, six days a week.”