Automation in emerging countries threatens the middle class

“The discussion about the consequences of faster progressing automation has reached the emerging countries. A previously successful development model seems to have exceeded its shelf life. So far, a middle class has emerged because farm workers found jobs in the factories of the cities and produced for export markets. That could now be over.”

– Spohr, F.: Automat meets poverty, in: Handelsblatt (No. 131, 07.11.2016), p. 11.