Walmart Is Thinking About AI and Automation in Stores: Waves of Layoffs Expected Among Low-Skilled Workers

7 April 20231 year ago babelfish

Walmart, the largest private employer in the United States, revealed on Tuesday plans to automate a large swath of its stores and warehouses within the next three years. This move aligns with the wave of AI technologies being introduced to the economy to improve efficiency; too bad this also threatens to wipe out millions of jobs.

In a press release, the mega chain with more than 1.6 million employees in the United States said:
By the end of fiscal 2026, Walmart believes approximately 65% of stores will be served by automation, approximately 55% of fulfillment center volume will go through automated facilities, and unit cost averages could improve by approximately 20%. %. As Walmart's stores and warehouses move towards automation, the demand for human labor will diminish. However, the retailer noted that reducing the workforce could lead to higher wages for remaining employees. As changes are implemented across the business, one of the results will be the creation of roles that require less physical labor but higher pay. Walmart did not provide specific information on potential workforce reduction through 2026 due to automation.

Meanwhile, Goldman's Jan Hatzius recently told clients that “ about two-thirds of current jobs (in the US and Europe) are exposed to some degree of AI automation, and that generative AI could replace up to a quarter of the current works. Extrapolating our estimates to a global level, it can be argued that generative AI could expose the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs to automation ,” as up to “ two-thirds of occupations could be partially automated by 'AI ”.

Translated: a third of a billion layoffs (at least) in the US and Europe (pro committee members can read GS's report here). Think about the robotization of the service sector.

Worryingly, America's largest employer is racing full steam ahead on automating its operations, along with the second largest employer, Amazon. No doubt a wave of layoffs awaits us, but where is the inflection point where mass layoffs translate into an abundance of angry people? We suspect the government would implement a universal basic income to prevent future masses of furloughed congregating on the streets.

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The article Walmart Thinkingly Applying AI and Automation in Stores: Waves of Layoffs Expected Among Low-Skilled Workers comes from Economic Scenarios .

This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/walmart-applica-pensantemente-ai-e-automazione-nei-negozi-ondate-di-licenziamenti-previsti-fra-i-lavoratori-a-bassa-qualificazione/ on Fri, 07 Apr 2023 08:00:05 +0000.