Use robots to solve productivity crisis, says IPPR

EMBRACING greater automation is vital to reap the full productivity benefits offered by technology and offer much-needed wage rises, the IPPR think-tank has said.

An “accelerated trajectory” of automation could raise productivity growth by as much as 1.4pc each year, boosting GDP by 10pc by 2030.

This comes as UK GDP growth was downgraded by the Office for Budget Responsibility following seven years of productivity levels failing to meet expectations. “It is the relative absence of robots in the UK economy, not their imminent rise, which is the biggest challenge,” the think-tank said.

Matthew Lawrence, co-author of the report, said: “Despite the rhetoric of the rise of the robots, machines aren’t about to take all our jobs. While technological change will reshape how we work and what we do, it won’t eliminate employment.” However, if poorly managed, automation could bring challenges by exacerbating economic inequality, Mr Lawrence added. The benefits of automation could be “narrowly concentrated” he warned, as low-skilled workers unprepared for new technology would be left behind.

This would result in a “paradox of plenty”: a richer society but one that sees regions and communities left behind by localised technological revolution. Jobs would be largely reimagined rather than lost, the report said. Rather than being on the cusp of a “post-human” economy, jobs would be reallocated and economic output increased.

The think-tank proposed a radical redistribution of the means of production in order to combat inequality.