Technological development to have big effect on Polish economy - report
Within the next 20 years, developments in technology will cause nearly two million jobs to disappear and three million to be transformed, said Minister of Development Jadwiga Emilewicz during Thursday's presentation of the 'Roads to Industry 4.0' report.
The report was prepared by the Polish Economic Institute.
Emilewicz pointed out that Poland and the entire European Union were facing great challenges, such as ecology, demography and the need to improve the quality of life. She indicated that in order to meet them, it was necessary to develop technology and increase the rate of automation.
The minister stated that although many jobs would be lost or transformed, many new and better-paid ones would appear.
She also reported that in Poland, there were 42 robot units for every 10,000 workers, which was, much less than in Germany, Hungary or the Czech Republic. However, she noted that one of the reasons for this was that there was less capital in small and medium-sized companies, which make up a significant share of the Polish economy.
According to the Polish Economic Institute report published on Thursday, at the end of 2018, there were 13,632 industrial robot units in operation in Poland, of which 39 percent were being utilised in the automotive industry.
The study also showed that the rates of robotisation in the country were constantly improving. Today, robot units are being used by 6 percent of Polish enterprises. The number of robot units increased by 17.5 percent in 2018 alone.
