Especially, Japanese companies are facing a workforce automation problem. It’s not the kind you normally hear about, though — workers aren’t afraid they’ll lose their jobs to machines. Instead, the companies need to engineer robots to replace the droves of Japanese workers approaching retirement age.
Right now, over a quarter of the Japanese population is over the age of 65, and that number is expected to jump to 40 percent over the next 40 years. That’s bad news for industries that will need to replace those retiring workers, especially for industries like construction for which automation hasn’t caught on as quickly.