Skip to main content
Home

Main navigation

  • Top stories
  • Health
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Tech
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Weird
  • 1-1-2
Image
robot_industrie_auto_fabriek_ts
Business
Politics
Innovation
Deputy PM
education
future
jobs
Labour
Lodewijk Asscher
minister
Reinier Castelein
robotics
Robots
Social Affairs
unemployment
Tuesday, 30 September 2014 - 13:00
Share this:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
  • reddit

Robots may cause unemployment: Deputy PM

Deputy PM Lodewijk Asscher has expressed fears that robots will increasingly be able to take over tasks historically performed by people, leading to a future rise in unemployment. Robots could replace cleaners, warehouse employees and even taxi drivers, according to Asscher.

"Robots are rapidly becoming more accessible, more reliable and cheaper,” Asscher said at a conference on robotics. Asscher also heads up the Social Affairs ministry, which organized the event.

“They are cheap, fast, never sick, working 24 hours a day, never ask for wage increases, are not represented by unions, and do not strike.”

Asscher has pushed for improvements to education in the coming years, so that young people learn skills that future employers will demand.

"When robots take over unskilled and routine work, we have to educate our youth for other kinds of work,” Asscher said.

Asscher has also called for changes to the tax system, saying that it should be adjusted to recognize technological progress, adding that the rise of robotics and the digital economy are not equivalent when compared to earlier periods of technological development, he said.

Union President Reinier Castelein has commented on the speech, saying that if Asscher believes this trend will be observed, he must also come up with a plan for the middle class for that they do not become the victim.

Follow us:

Latest stories

  • Feyenoord knocked out of the Champions League after loss to Atletico Madrid
  • Tomorrow Film Festival launches, showcasing inspiring films about climate change
  • Vandals spray painted Swastikas on the gay rights monument in The Hague
  • Sculpture garden to return to Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum
  • Dutch king awards the 2023 Erasmus Prize to comedian Trevor Noah
  • Amsterdam's 'Stay Away' campaign for British party tourists lacks impact, says mayor

Top stories

  • Criminals infiltrate Dutch municipalities dozens of times per year: report
  • Most Netherlands residents worried about climate change, against fossil subsidies
  • Pics: First snowfall turns parts of Netherlands white; Code yellow warning for icy roads
  • Geert Wilders wants former left-wing minister to lead Cabinet formation talks
  • Cabinet formation leader resigns over fraud allegations hours before first talks
  • Prices still high because supermarkets can't buy stocks from other EU countries

© 2012-2023, NL Times, All rights reserved.

Footer menu

  • Privacy
  • Contact
  • Partner content