The Robot Economy Isn’t Coming. It’s Already Here.

Digital Affordability vs. Biological Scarcity

The economy does not wait for someone to “push” an idea. It responds to fundamental imbalances. Today, the central imbalance is stark: a demographic crisis on one side, and unprecedented technological accessibility on the other.

Human labor in advanced economies has become a scarce commodity.

According to S&P Global, the share of Americans aged 55–64 in the labor force has declined by 1.58% since 2019. Overall labor-force participation remains stuck at 62.6%, still below pre-pandemic levels. Healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics face millions of unfilled positions.

Even though younger workers have returned to the market (+3.25% for ages 16–24), they cannot replace the expertise and experience of the outgoing generation.

Robots, meanwhile, are no longer expensive.

A 2025 analysis by Cem Kosmaz, based on real industrial deployments, shows that the total cost of ownership of a humanoid robot is now approximately $7.55 per working hour. This includes depreciation ($50,000–$500,000 per system), electricity, maintenance, and software.

By comparison, the average cost of one human labor hour in U.S. manufacturing is $25–$30, once taxes, health insurance, training, and management overhead are included.

Average Fully-Loaded Cost per Hour: Human vs Robot (UK/US/EU 2024–2025).

Figures reflect typical conditions in high-wage economies (United Kingdom, United States, European Union).

Key Insights

- Robotic systems typically operate at 15–40% of the fully‑loaded human hourly cost in most sectors.
- Cost advantage is strongest where utilisation rates are high and workflows are repetitive.
- Agricultural and hospitality automation trends show near‑parity in cost as technologies mature.
- Surgical robotics remains significantly more expensive due to capital equipment and disposables.
- High-wage economies (UK, US, EU) demonstrate the fastest returns on investment for robotics adoption.

But the most important difference is predictability.

A human can quit after two days, fall ill, or demand higher pay.
A robot delivers 5–7 years of consistent performance.

Employee turnover — which spiked to a record 26% in 2022–2023 — remains dangerously high even after the temporary “Great Stay” of 2024 (18%). Payscale warns that under any scenario for 2025–2026 — wage inflation or recession — another wave of resignations is likely.

A robot does not quit.
A robot does not get sick.
A robot does not need Friday meetings.

A Trillion-Dollar Market the World Overlooked

While the world debates whether robots “steal jobs,” the robotics industry grew 10% in a single year. Today, 4.2 million robots operate in factories worldwide — a record, according to the International Federation of Robotics. 

ABI Research reports:

• Global robotics market: $45 billion in 2024 → $110.7 billion by 2030
• AI robotics (robots with an autonomous “brain”):
  $12.77 billion in 2023 → $124.77 billion by 2030 (38% CAGR)

This segment is growing 10 times faster than traditional robotics.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang describes this shift as Physical AI — embodied intelligence that not only computes but acts.

Waymo already performs 250,000 autonomous rides per week.
Amazon operates one million warehouse robots.
Tesla is testing humanoid robots in real production environments.

This is not gradual evolution — it is three waves of singularity.

• Wave 1 (2020–2024): Industrial robots and cobots automate discrete tasks. Payback: 6–18 months.
• Wave 2 (2025–2027): Mobile robots and AI agents orchestrate end-to-end workflows. Market triples.
• Wave 3 (2028–2030): Humanoid robots replace general-purpose physical labor. Cost drops to $3–$4/hour.

The question is not whether robots will replace humans.
The question is who recognizes first that the economy has already chosen robots.

JOBS TO ROBOTS / JOBTOROB.com: When Robots Start Looking for Work

Out of this global disruption emerges a new paradigm — JOBS TO ROBOTS / JOBTOROB.com. 

This is not simply “assigning tasks to robots.”
It is the creation of a global ecosystem in which robots become deployable assets, hired and dispatched much like an Uber vehicle.

Imagine a labor marketplace where companies no longer post vacancies for people but post tasks for robots:

• Need to pack 10,000 units of product?
• A robot arrives at the warehouse, connects to the system, completes the task, bills for robot-hours, and departs to the next client.

This is Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) — executed at global scale.

**JOBTOROB does not sell robots.

It builds the robot economy.**

Within this system:

• Robots become entrepreneurs — seeking assignments, optimizing their workload
• Businesses shift from CAPEX to OPEX — paying for results, not hardware
• AI agents manage hybrid teams — humans + robots + algorithms

This solves the fundamental economics of robotics:

• A robot is profitable at 80% utilization
• A robot is unprofitable at 40% utilization

JOBTOROB converts robots from a risky capital purchase into a predictable, revenue-generating operational asset.

Human vs. Algorithm: Who Wins?

The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that by 2030, over 100 million workers across advanced economies — one in every sixteen — will need to change professions. This is 12% more than projected before COVID.

Goldman Sachs argues the opposite: technology ultimately creates more jobs than it destroys. Today, 60% of Americans work in professions that did not exist in 1940. Generative AI is expected to boost productivity by 15%, while any unemployment spikes will likely be temporary — as with previous technological revolutions.

The truth lies between these extremes.

Robots will not replace humans — they will amplify those who learn to manage them.

But that requires massive retraining. Walmart, Amazon, and IBM are already investing billions in reskilling. The EU’s Pact for Skills allocates €7 billion to retrain 700,000 automotive workers.

The problem: technology is evolving ten times faster than humans can be retrained.

We are producing a generation unprepared for a world in which digital skills are not “nice to have,” but a prerequisite for survival.

A New Social Reality

The robot economy introduces systemic disruptions that financial markets still underestimate:

1. Capital concentration:
   Income generated by robots flows to capital owners, not workers — accelerating inequality.
2. Geographic shift:
   Production is reshoring to the U.S./EU but without corresponding job creation — a “jobless reshoring.”
3. Political instability:
   Eight of the ten fastest-disappearing professions belong to the middle and lower classes. Without redistribution, populism will rise.
4. Ethical and regulatory gaps:
   Who is responsible when a robot makes an error?
   Who owns the value created by autonomous systems?
   These questions remain unresolved.

Investment Perspective: Where the Capital Flows

Market behavior shows a decisive pattern:

• Nvidia — Physical AI chips (+200% in two years)
• Tesla — Optimus robots entering production workflows
• Amazon — 1 million robots, $10 billion invested in automation
• ABB, FANUC, KUKA — legacy leaders transitioning to a Robotics 2.0 model

The biggest upside, however, is not in manufacturing robots — but in platforms.

Platforms like JOBTOROB generate a network effect:

More robots → lower cost per hour → more businesses adopt automation → demand accelerates.

This is a meta-platform for the physical world.

Just as Amazon built the infrastructure of e-commerce,
JOBTOROB.com is building the infrastructure of digital physical labor.

Conclusion: The Inflection Point

We stand at a historical moment analogous to 1995 — the beginning of the internet revolution. At that time, the “digital economy” seemed like a niche for enthusiasts. Today, it is the global economy.

The robot economy will follow the same trajectory — but five times faster.

• Economic driver: 70% reduction in labor cost
• Demographic driver: millions of missing workers
• Technological driver: 38% annual growth in AI robotics
• Social driver: a generation prepared to work with robots

JOBTOROB.com is not a question of “if.” It is a question of “when.”
And “when” is now.

For investors: revalue all assets dependent on human labor.
For businesses: adopt operating models where robots are OPEX, not CAPEX.
For society: choose between robotocracy and robot humanism.

The planet is not simply nearing a new point of singularity.
It has already entered it.

* In preparing this press release, the authors referenced a broad range of analytical materials, including international labour-market datasets, global robotics industry reports, cross-sector cost-efficiency studies, and economic assessments published across the United Kingdom, the United States, the European Union and leading global research institutions:

• McKinsey Global Institute – Future of Work Research
• Goldman Sachs – "AI and the Future of Work" Report
• S&P Global – Labor Force Participation & Demographics
• Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) – Employment Situation Summary
• World Economic Forum – Future of Jobs Report 2025
• Payscale – Employee Turnover & Retention Report 2024
• International Federation of Robotics (IFR) – World Robotics Report
• ABI Research – AI Robotics Market Forecast 2024-2030
• Cem Kosmaz – LinkedIn: "Robot Hour Cost Analysis 2025"
• RobotWorx – ROI Calculator & Payback Data
• Standard Bots – Cobot ROI Analysis
• Nvidia GTC – Jensen Huang Keynote on Physical AI
• Waymo – Public Autonomous Rides Statistics
• Amazon – "Million Robots in Operations"
• Tesla AI – Optimus Robot Development Updates
• EU Pact for Skills – Official Initiative Details