Disadvantage of robots: job losses

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Quick Questions

Shade in the A or B circle for each question.

1. A car factory replaces 200 assembly line workers with robots. What is the likely effect on jobs?

A Unemployment, because fewer workers are needed

B More jobs, because robots need no workers at all

2. Which statement describes a disadvantage of using robots?

A Robots can work all night without a break

B Workers who are replaced by robots may lose their jobs

3. Why do robots in a factory cause job losses?

A Robots do tasks that people did, so fewer workers are needed

B Robots are always cheaper than paying a single worker

4. A factory worker's job is replaced by a robot. What may the worker need to do to stay employed?

A Retrain to learn new skills

B Wait for the robot to be switched off for good

5. Which is a NEW job created because of robots?

A Worker who does the same task by hand

B Engineer who builds and maintains robots

Match the Pairs

Draw a line connecting each item on the left to its match on the right.

Left column		Right column
1unemployment		APeople lose their jobs because robots now do the tasks they used to do
2retrain workers		BTeach people new skills so they can do a different job after a robot takes over their old task
3A car factory replaces 200 assembly line workers with welding robots, so those workers lose their jobs		CThis is wrong because workers often need retraining to learn new skills, such as building or maintaining robots, to find new work.
4Robots create new jobs for people who build and maintain them, so not every job is lost		Drobots_installed = 50 workers_needed = workers_needed - 200
5Robots never cause job losses because they only work for people.		EThis is wrong because robots can do tasks that people did, so fewer workers are needed and some people become unemployed.
6Workers who lose their jobs to robots never need retraining.		Fnew_jobs = engineers + technicians

Definitions

unemployment

Fill in the Blanks

Complete each line of code by filling in the missing parts.

workers ← 50 workers ← workers _ 10

IF robotsAdded > 0 ____ OUTPUT "Some workers may lose jobs" ENDIF

jobLost ← TRUE retrainingNeeded ← _______

builders ← 10 maintainers ← 8 newJobs ← builders + ___________

workersHave ← 50 workersNeeded ← 40 unemployment ← workersHave _ workersNeeded

Spot the Error

Shade in the letter of the line that contains an error.

Question 1

A jobs = 50

B jobs = jobs + 10

C print(jobs)

Question 2

A workers = 40

B robots = 15

C if robots > 10

D print('Retrain staff')

Question 3

A workers = 30

B retrained = 12

C new_jobs = 5

D total = retrained - new_jobs

E print(total)

Question 4

A for job factory_jobs:

B if robot_can_do(job):

C remove_worker(job)

Question 5

A def jobs_left(staff robots):

B return staff - robots

C print(jobs_left(50, 5))

Answer Key

Disadvantage of robots: job losses

Section A: Quick Questions

A — Unemployment, because fewer workers are needed

B — Workers who are replaced by robots may lose their jobs

A — Robots do tasks that people did, so fewer workers are needed

A — Retrain to learn new skills

B — Engineer who builds and maintains robots

Section B: Match the Pairs

unemployment → People lose their jobs because robots now do the tasks they used to do

retrain workers → Teach people new skills so they can do a different job after a robot takes over their old task

A car factory replaces 200 assembly line workers with welding robots, so those workers lose their jobs → robots_installed = 50 workers_needed = workers_needed - 200

Robots create new jobs for people who build and maintain them, so not every job is lost → new_jobs = engineers + technicians

Robots never cause job losses because they only work for people. → This is wrong because robots can do tasks that people did, so fewer workers are needed and some people become unemployed.

Workers who lose their jobs to robots never need retraining. → This is wrong because workers often need retraining to learn new skills, such as building or maintaining robots, to find new work.

Section C: Definitions

unemployment — When robots do tasks that people did, fewer workers are needed, so some people lose their jobs. Workers may need retraining, though new jobs appear in building and maintaining robots.

Section D: Fill in the Blanks

workers ← 50
workers ← workers - 10

IF robotsAdded > 0 THEN
  OUTPUT "Some workers may lose jobs"
ENDIF

jobLost ← TRUE
retrainingNeeded ← jobLost

builders ← 10
maintainers ← 8
newJobs ← builders + maintainers

workersHave ← 50
workersNeeded ← 40
unemployment ← workersHave > workersNeeded

Section E: Spot the Error

B — When robots take over 10 tasks, fewer workers are needed, so the number of jobs should go down. It should be jobs = jobs - 10, not +.

C — An if statement must end with a colon. It should be if robots > 10:

D — Retrained workers and new robot-maintenance jobs should be added to find the total, so it should be total = retrained + new_jobs.

A — A for loop needs the keyword in between the loop variable and the list. It should be for job in factory_jobs:

A — The parameters must be separated by a comma. It should be def jobs_left(staff, robots):