Rise of robots fuels slavery threat for ASEAN factory workers, report says

The rise of robots in manufacturing in South East Asia is likely to fuel modern slavery, as workers who end up unemployed owing to automation face abuses competing for a shrinking pool of low-paid jobs in a “race to the bottom”, analysts say.

Drastic job losses because of the growth of automation in the region, which has become a hub for many manufacturing enterprises, from clothing to vehicles, could produce a spike in labour abuses and slavery in global supply chains, according to UK-based risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

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