Empowering accessibility in manufacturing with AI - Microsoft Industry Blogs

At this juncture in the early stages of the AI-powered Fourth Industrial Revolution, a lot of attention has been paid to the possibility that millions of workers will be displaced by automation and robots, raising fears of rising unemployment in the years ahead. However, in the manufacturing industry today, the problem is not one of too many people chasing too few jobs-- it's the opposite. Manufacturing is being transformed by technology at a dramatic pace at a time of near-record low levels of unemployment, leading to a shortage of workers with the required skills for the new era of intelligent manufacturing. Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports that there are more than half a million unfilled manufacturing jobs in the United States. This gap is expected to widen significantly as baby boomers retire in increasing numbers over the next few years and the demand for people with the kind of digital skills that the American manufacturing industry requires continues to grow.