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ABSTRACT
The increasing level of automation in the fourth industrial revolution has received a global interest in research and political landscape in recent years. While some research advances have been made in the developed world with regard to its implications for unemployment, next to no study has so far sought to establish if there is any statistical relationship between automation and unemployment in developing countries where unemployment is very high. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of automation on unemployment in Southern Africa. Findings from the study show that automation has a significant positive relationship with unemployment rate. The study also finds foreign direct investment and business cycle (higher production output change) to be negatively associated with unemployment. Based on these findings, it is recommended that proper investment in learning and skill development training aimed at making individuals more competitive with regard to automation be pursued to increase the prospect of employment.
Acknowledgement
The support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development for this research/activity is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE in Human Development.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.