LABOUR PAINS

摘要

There are indications that labour shortages in the logistics industry are driving companies to automate at any price. Dave Berridge, secretary of the Automated Material Handling Systems Association (AMHSA), examines the matter. According to a report last year entitled 'Labour and Automation' by the international real estate investment management specialist, JLL, sourcing labour has become one of the greatest challenges confronting companies in many of Europe's logistics property hotspots. The reason is simple: demand for logistics workers has continued to grow while many major European economies have experienced low levels of unemployment. Across the EU the unemployment rate in 2017 averaged 4.9%, the lowest level since 2009. JLL's research showed that some 300,000 new warehouse jobs had been created across Europe in the preceding three years. The US economy is in the same boat. Research in September by another multinational real estate corporation, CBRE Group, showed an expected demand for a further 450,000+ warehouse and distribution workers in the US in 2018 and 2019.