Rise and Fall of the Middle Class impacted by SE Asian automation
The Rise & Fall of the Middle Class investing thematic we’ve developed at Tematica Research largely looks at the emerging middle class in developing countries and their increasing demand for goods and services — everything from healthcare and communications, to clothing, food and consumer goods.
The demand for cheap labor has led companies from all of the world to Southeast Asia for the manufacturing and assembly of goods. Now however, robotic and automated technology has reached an efficiency point of even cheap labor, putting all those jobs at risk. Of course, on the upside for the United States, using automated technology could bring much of this manufacturing state-side, and bring some jobs back to the states, which of course weaves into not only the Rise & Fall of the Middle Class thematic, but also our Demand / Replacement Technology and Tooling and Retooling thematics
Of the 9 million people working in the region’s textiles, clothing and footwear industry, 64 percent of Indonesian workers are at high risk of losing their jobs to automation, 86 percent in Vietnam, and 88 percent in Cambodia.
Source: Millions of SE Asian jobs may be lost to automation in next two decades: ILO | Reuters
