Tag Archives: Detroit Robots

Number of Robots Increasing, But Not Unemployment Rates

by Drawing Detroit | Leave a comment

The data we’ve presented on robots in Michigan are clear. Their numbers are increasing. And the interpretation of those numbers by some economists are also clear. A recent Detroit Free Press article, on a Brookings study says that M.I.T and Boston University researchers currently estimate that the addition of one robot per 1,000 workers leads to the unemployment of up to six workers. So, unemployment might be going up as robots increase? But no.

While the number of industrial robots in use has increased throughout the State of Michigan between 2010 and 2015 the unemployment rates for the affected Metropolitan Statistical Area’s (MSA) have not. For example, in the Battle Creek MSA the Brookings Institute Analysis of International Federation of Robotics Data found there were about 17 industrial robots per 1,000 workers in 2015, this equated to a total of about 840 industrial robots in use in the Battle Creek area in 2015. Also, in 2015 the unemployment rate for the Battle Creek MSA was 5.1 and in 2010 the unemployment rate for that area was 11.7. A substantial decrease.

In the Detroit Metropolitan area, the number of industrial robots in use has nearly tripled since from 5,752 in 2010 to 15,115 in 2015. If each robot is worth more than one job as the economist projects, then that would mean a lot of unemployed people. But the unemployment rate fell from 13.9 in 2010 to 5.9 in 2015. According to the Michigan Department of Management, Technology and Budget none of the State’s 14
MSA’s experienced an increase in the unemployment rates between 2010 and 2015. So, more robots, but a decrease in unemployment? Well, maybe, but some might say we’re mixing up a macro trend—the overall
expansion of the economy since the 2008 recession—with a more micro process—the increase in the number of robots, which would not have so large an effect as to decrease overall unemployment. There still might be an effect, but at a lower level. And it might be consistent with recent findings from University of
Michigan economists who are indicating that the expansion has brought back only about 73 percent of the jobs lost in the recession.

Where are the other 27 percent? Robots and offshore, perhaps?

 

 

Industrial Robot Use Concentrated in Michigan, Auto Industry

by Drawing Detroit | Leave a comment

The number of industrial robots used throughout Michigan increased by 14,785 between 2010 and 2015, according to the Brookings Analysis of International Federation of Robotics Data. In 2015 there were about 24,000 industrial robots in being used, according to the data set, an increase from the about 10,000 being used in 2010. According to the Brookings data set, the auto industry utilized the highest number of industrial robots at a total of about 233,000 throughout the U.S. in 2015. With Michigan being the automotive capital of the country it should come as no surprise that the state had the highest concentration of industrial robots in 2015. According to the data set, 12 percent of the industrial robots in use in 2015 were concentrated in Michigan; 8.7 percent of the nation’s total of industrial robots were concentrated in Ohio in 2015 and 8.3 percent were concentrated in Indiana.

When examining the data at the local level, it shows that the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan area had the highest number of industrial robots in both 2010 and 2015. In 2010 there were 5,753 industrial robots being utilized in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn Metropolitan area and in 2015 that number increased to 15,115. Followed by the Detroit Metropolitan area, the Grand Rapids Metropolitan area had the second highest number of industrial robots being utilized in the state, according the data set. In 2010, there were 1,091 industrial robots being used and by 2015 that number increased to 3,102.

While the Detroit Metropolitan area had the highest number of industrial robots, it was the Battle Creek Metropolitan area that had the highest number of robots per 1,000 workers in 2015. According to the data, the Battle Creek Metropolitan area had about 17 robots per 1,000 workers while the Detroit Metropolitan area had 8.5 industrial robots per 1,000 workers. The Jackson Metropolitan area had 8.8 industrial robots per 1,000 workers in 2015, according to the data set.

Next week we will explore how industrial robots correlate to unemployment rates in Michigan.