Student Scholars & Faculty Mentors
Projects funded by our internal grants program. Search the table to find students or faculty mentors that share in your interests, and could help you achieve your goals in research, creative activity, or service.
Impacts of Automation: Manufacturing Jobs in the United States
Name: Lefever,
Advisor: John Haughery
Department: AEST
Award: Student Research Grant
Abstract: As industry continues to embrace the fourth industrial revolution, automation becomes more integral to manufacturing. As a result, the risk to jobs in the manufacturing field increases. This increase in risk affects counties differently based on workforce distribution. Therefore, an examination of the risk-adjusted for employment is needed to understand the true risk per county. This need increases as the prevalence of automation in the manufacturing industry increases. This study explored, described, and analyzed the risk of manufacturing jobs being replaced by automation on a per county level across the entire United States (US). An adjusted risk value per county per United States region was calculated based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and previously published literature. Results of this study provide an evaluation of the risk per county relative to the manufacturing sector. Furthermore, recommendations are provided for how workers in high-risk areas should respond to potential risks.