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Technology Blog

Robots taking over retail jobs?

By W.J. Hennigan
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California lost 12,900 jobs in the retail industry in November, but consumers spent 6% more than they did a year ago.

So why did the state lose retail jobs when it typically adds them to deal with the increased consumer demand?

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Blame it on the robots.

Our colleagues over at Money & Co. say it’s possible that retailers have replaced cashiers with machines and store attendants with robots.

As the Times reported in October, automation has been a steady progression since the Industrial Revolution. But with the advances in technology and the rising costs of manual labor, many employers are turning to robots to get work done, replacing administrative assistants with software, cashiers with self-service kiosks and laborers with machines.

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-- W.J. Hennigan

Technology Blog
W.J. Hennigan

W.J. Hennigan covered the Pentagon and national security issues from Washington, D.C., before leaving the Los Angeles Times bureau in November 2017. While there, he reported on war, counter-terrorism, and the lives of American service members from more than two dozen countries and previously covered the aerospace and defense industry from Los Angeles. Hennigan earned awards from the National Press Club, the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation, and was a contributor to the Los Angeles Times coverage of the terror attacks in San Bernardino that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2016.

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