Rise of robots fuels slavery threat for Southeast Asian factory workers, analysts say

The rise of robots in manufacturing in Southeast Asia is likely to fuel modern slavery, as workers who end up unemployed due to automation face abuses competing for a shrinking pool of low-paid jobs in a “race to the bottom”, analysts said on Thursday.

Drastic job losses because of the growth of automation in the region – a hub for many manufacturing enterprises, from garments to vehicles – could produce a spike in labour abuses and slavery in global supply chains, according to risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

While robots have been a staple of the factory floor for decades, increased automation has already caused job losses in a number of industries.

The United Nations’ International Labour Organisation has estimated that more than half of workers in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines – at least 137 million people – risk losing their jobs to automation in the next two decades.

The risk of slavery tainting supply chains will spiral as workers who lose their jobs due to increased robot manufacturing will be more vulnerable to workplace abuses as they jostle for fewer jobs at lower wages, said Alexandra Channer of Maplecroft.