China expands industrial robot fleet without cutting jobs
Between 2014 and 2024, China increased its number of industrial robots from 200,000 to 2 million, the highest figure worldwide. Despite this surge, employment in China’s manufacturing sector has remained stable at around 140 million workers.
This growth in automation disproves the widespread notion that machines replace human jobs. By comparison, countries like Japan, South Korea, and the United States each have around 420,000 to 450,000 operational industrial robots, much fewer than China.
Technological progress and automation are expected to continue driving China’s industrial development without eliminating jobs, although the nature of work may evolve.
