据韩联社1月27日报道，韩国央行报告称，韩国工业机器人使用数量从2000年的3.8万台增加到2018年的30万台，增幅近7倍；销售量也从5000台增加到3.8万台，增长6.6倍。同期，全球范围内的工业机器人使用数量和销售数量则分别增长了2.2倍（75万台至243.9万台）和3.3倍（9.9万台至42.2万台），相比之下，韩国工业机器人普及速度之快远超世界平均水平。数据还显示，韩国机器人密集度（每千名制造业从业人员运用机器人的数量）从2000年至2007年的年均1.26台，升至2010年至2018年的年均5.28台，比同期日本、美国、德国、中国台湾等的增幅更大。
韩国央行分析称，韩国工业机器人普及速度如此之快，主要原因有两点，一是全球机器人价格在2009年至2018年间下降了38.6%；二是电气、电子、化学、运输装备等机器人利用率较高的行业在韩国产业结构中所占比重较大。
研究显示，机器人快速普及降低了实际工资、从业人数的增长。就此，韩国央行建议，随着技术进步、后疫情时期的数字转换加速，机器人作用将日趋凸显，在此过程中，若要增加就业岗位，应积极挖掘新的高附加值产业，使因机器人普及提升的生产效率导向业务创造，增加行业间“劳动移动”。
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According to Yonhap News Agency reported on January 27, the Bank of Korea reported that the number of industrial robots used in South Korea increased from 38,000 units in 2000 to 300,000 units in 2018, an increase of nearly 7 times; Sales also increased 6.6 times from 5,000 units to 38,000 units. In the same period, the number of industrial robots used and the number of sales worldwide increased by 2.2 times (750,000 to 2.439 million units) and 3.3 times (99,000 to 422,000 units), respectively, in contrast, the popularity of industrial robots in South Korea is far faster than the world average. The data also shows that South Korea’s robot intensity (the number of robots used per 1,000 manufacturing employees) rose from 1.26 per year between 2000 and 2007 to 5.28 per year between 2010 and 2018, a larger increase than Japan, the United States, Germany, and Taiwan in the same period.
According to the analysis of the Bank of Korea, the popularity of industrial robots in South Korea is so fast, there are two main reasons: First, the global price of robots fell by 38.6% between 2009 and 2018; Second, industries with a high utilization rate of robots, such as electrical, electronics, chemical, and transportation equipment, account for a large proportion in Korea’s industrial structure.
Research shows that the rapid adoption of robots has reduced the growth of real wages and employment. In this regard, the central bank of Korea suggested that with technological progress and the acceleration of digital transformation in the post-epidemic period, the role of robots will become increasingly prominent, in this process, in order to increase jobs, we should actively explore new high value-added industries, so that the production efficiency enhanced by the popularity of robots will lead to business creation, and increase the “labor mobility” between industries.
