The human cost of automation in the labour market

For decades, workers in tea plantations across Kenya’s vast tea belt in the Rift Valley have been hand plucking tea. This labour-intensive and time-consuming practice serves as a significant source of employment for tens of thousands of local communities.

Then tea plucking machines were introduced, triggering resistance and protests among workers, fueled by concerns that the machines were replacing them and jeopardising their employment.

Women form the bulk of workers in the Kenyan tea sector, making up over 60 per cent of the workforce. Their primary involvement is in harvesting, earning an average of Ksh 12,000 (USD 110) per month. Tea stands as one of Kenya's major contributors to foreign exchange earnings.

Tea plucking machines replace humans

Multinationals in the Kenyan tea industry, including Browns Investments, George Williamson, and Ekaterra, have embraced automation in tea harvesting since 2006, aiming to enhance productivity and reduce production costs, often achieving cuts of more than half. This, in turn, ensured competitiveness in the global market for their products.

In some instances, one machine replaced up to 100 workers, sparking resentment that at times led to violence. 

In May, residents of Kericho, one of the largest tea producing zones in Kenya, torched nine tea plucking machines owned by Ekaterra, amounting to approximately USD 1.2 million. This incident resulted in the loss of two lives and numerous injuries, including six police officers.

The company halted operations for two weeks, affecting over 16,000 employees who were left without work. This incident followed similar cases affecting tea companies that had been reported in previous years.

Judith Chebet is employed as a laborer in one of the tea plantations in Kericho. While she was lucky enough not to lose her job, she notes that the introduction of tea harvesting machines reduced her salary by almost half, as the machines assumed a substantial portion of the tasks she had been performing.

"With the tough economic times, it hasn’t been easy. And with more machines being introduced we live with the constant fear that we will be without jobs soon," the 45-year-old single mother of four told FairPlanet. She reportedly educated her children through this job. "What should we do or where will we go? We have relied on tea picking jobs for our livelihoods for more than a decade."

According to a media report, the Kenya Plantation and Agricultural Workers Union estimates that 30,000 women have lost their jobs in the country over the last five years due to automation. 

Alive to the threat posed by mechanisation to human labour, the local government in Kericho established a task force earlier this year. The task force recommended that tea companies in the region implement a 60:40 ratio, favouring a balance of 60 per cent mechanised harvesting to 40 per cent hand-picking. It also proposed legislation to tame the importation of tea plucking machines. 

The Kenyan case serves as a microcosm of the human cost of technology in a world undergoing a proliferation of widespread innovations, including artificial intelligence and machine learning.

While the jury is still out on whether new technologies are beneficial to the global labour market, studies and experts point to an inevitable shift to automation and the need for the global markets to adapt to the new normal. 

the future of work

According to The World Economic Forum's (WEF) Future of Jobs Report, artificial intelligence machines would replace close to 85 million jobs by 2025. However, the report also stated that AI would create 97 million jobs by the same year. 

The Harvard Business Review, on the other hand, stated that using AI in the job market would add up USD 15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030. However, it acknowledged that AI is displacing humans in sectors such as recruitment, the financial industry and service delivery, often pushing them into lower-paying jobs or making them unemployed.

"Emerging technologies are disrupting the way of work and it is inevitable that as the world progresses, technology is going to take over most of the jobs," said Nelson Maina, a communications manager at the agro-input company Elgon Kenya.  "What policy makers and organisations should do is learn how to strike a balance between these innovations, which are important, and workers' contribution."

He added, "There are so many jobs that technologies cannot do. The idea is to ensure we reap from technologies to boost productivity while ensuring seamless interaction between workers and the machines."

While the infiltration of technology into the job market is a global phenomenon, its impact is more pronounced in developing economies. In these regions, the majority of the working population possesses low skills and depends on sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, and mining for their livelihoods. Notably, these sectors are experiencing full-scale automation.

But while the invasion of technology into the job market is a global phenomenon, its impact is more pronounced in developing economies. In these regions, the majority of the working population possesses low skills and depends on sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture and mining for their livelihoods. Notably, these sectors are experiencing full-scale automation.

Bangladesh's garment industry has traditionally been a significant source of income for women, who constituted for over 80 per cent of the labour force. However, automation of the industry has seen the number drop to 60 per cent, and in 2019 the government estimated that as a result of automation of the industry up to half a million garment workers, the majority of whom are women, will lose their jobs.

Part of this loss is attributed to the fact that despite women constituting the majority of workers in the sector, they  tend to perform low-skilled tasks, which could easily be assumed by machines. According to a 2022 report, less than five per cent of women in Bangladesh's garment industry occupy supervisory or operational roles that could not be replaced by the machines. 

Embracing the new normal

The Gender Equality and Returns project, initiated by the International Finance Corporation and the International Labour Organization, is actively training women to assume supervisory and machine operating roles.

As of this reporting, over 60 per cent of those trained have been promoted to supervisory positions. This has seen the number of female supervisors in Bangladesh's garment industry rise to 12 per cent since the project was introduced in 2016.

As technology reshapes the future of work, experts are advocating for the reskilling of employees to enable them to adapt to these changing times.

"In a fast-evolving world, organisations need to invest in their staff by training them on skills that respond to 21st century needs and are adaptable to emerging technologies," noted Maina from Elgon Kenya. "Workers must be prepared to work and co-exist with technology in order to survive."

His sentiments are echoed in a report titled 'How changes in technology and automation will affect the labor market in Africa,' which advocates for investment in human skills that technology cannot replicate. "The sooner countries prepare, the greater the digital dividends," reads a section of the report.

Image by Annie Spratt