The Ripple Effect: How the Job Market Affects the Automated World

America’s labor market has advanced far beyond the recession. Just this past month (January, 2016), there were 151,000 new CES* jobs added to the market thus resulting in a total of 143,288,000 jobs; this job growth leads to one thing- $$$. In fact, it was just noted that the job market in America is at an 8-year low of 4.9%.

What does this mean for the needs of automation in the supply chain industry? Businesses thrive on a little concept just like the ripple effect. You know, throwing a rock in water, resulting in ripples/waves surfacing which then can upset nearby fish, birds, vegetation. Before jumping in, let’s rewind to December 2007–the start of The Great Recession.

Millions of American’s are getting laid off, but why? It began with the bursting of an 8 trillion dollar housing bubble. The resulting loss of wealth led to sharp cutbacks in consumer spending. This loss of consumption, combined with the financial market chaos triggered by the bursting of the bubble, also led to a collapse in business investment. As consumer spending and business investment dried up, massive job loss followed. This ultimately resulted in an absence of demand in all facets of industries which then lead to the decline in mass production. People are being frugal, therefore there isn’t that high demand that we want for the production of goods.

Not all companies went through the above stated steps. What about the companies who integrated automation into their stores for the customer to directly use? In order for companies to stay afloat during the recession and to maximize their profits, instead of turning away from automated technology, this was exactly their answer. Let’s look at it this way. It’s now December 2008, one year into the recession. The company isn’t maximizing their profit because of the need for a designated amount of employees working. In fact, they’re barely breaking even and that’s when automation can help the company flourish.

 

Now since the shock of The Great Recession is subsiding, at this point, money is moving better than it was in 2007. Again, this is where that little ripple effect comes into play. There are plenty of jobs leading to a greater demand for goods. This leads to a higher request for the production of said goods, finally leading to the need to increase how much is being produced and the need for automated machinery

For January 2016, the total industrial output is on the rise again with a 0.9% increase, this is a key performance indicator as it is important for developing automated solutions. Regardless of the market, automation is/can be a key contributing factor to a company’s survival and growth depending on the market; this goes for our company as well. Precision Automation Company Inc. is/can be an integral factor to your company’s existence and development, regardless of the market.

*CES (Current Employment Statistics) jobs that count the number of employees on employer payrolls.