Tokyo: Robots could substitute for a workforce of 3.52 million people in Japan in 2025 to help cover a labour shortage in the graying society, an industry body said Thursday.

The Machine Industry Memorial Foundation has estimated that "working robots" under development by Honda Motor Co. and many other leading Japanese companies could take over about 970,000 jobs in medical and nursing care services.

In the agriculture and forestry sector, 450,000 jobs could be replaced by robots if harvesting and pruning robots spread widely, said the foundation, affiliated with the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In services such as cleaning and delivery, it said, 1.41 million jobs could be taken over by robots.

The foundation also said about 74 minutes of free time per household are expected to be created each day if robots that do household chores such as cleaning are introduced, helping more women to enter the labor market.

Japan could face a labor force shortage of 4.27 million people in 2025 on the back of the declining birthrate and mass retirement of baby boomers, according to the foundation.

But its projections showed that about 80 percent of the labour shortage could be covered if advanced robots become popular.

An official of the foundation said that "next-generation robots would be a simple remedy for the aging population" and the labour shortage. Japan has been considering using more foreign workers and retired people to address these issues.
Source : PTI