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> Most capital investments do require a more skilled workforce to get the expected return on investment. Does it? I have no idea whether this is true or not, b
by Leherenn 5y ago
> Most capital investments do require a more skilled workforce to get the expected return on investment.
Does it? I have no idea whether this is true or not, but there have been plenty of counter examples throughout history. The spinning and carding machines during the industrial revolution, automated checkouts, ... Even in your example, the next step in an automated warehouse where the employee is just there to make sure everything is working correctly.
- chii 5y ago> employee is just there to make sure everything is working correctly this employee is going to require more skill than the original box stacking employee. The savings to the company is in the form of a lower number of employees, making the total cost lower. AKA, one maintenance engineer, replacing 10 manual stacking employees. In this case, productivity per employee grows, and it required capital investment, both in the form of machines from the business, but also from society in the form of education (presumably, the maintenance engineer needs to understand how the machines work to make sure it works correctly). The business doesn't really pay the education cost directly.