Could robots replace 60% of garment workers?

DHAKA – Up to 60 per cent of garment workers in Bangladesh will lose their jobs over the next decade as automation takes hold and robots replace workers. This was the claim recently made by Syed Almas Kabir, President of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) when presenting a keynote paper on ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution – Preparations’ at a meeting facilitated by Bangladesh Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BMCCI). It is widely accepted that the growth of ‘sewbots’ will see job losses in garment manufacture, however, this is the first time we are aware of somebody going on record to put an estimate on the scale of potential job losses.