Robots on warehouse floor show a surprise perk of a hot job market

The unemployment rate is below 4 per cent for the first time since 2000, and recent data show that the country has more job openings than unemployed Americans

Instead of displacing American workers, robots may soon make many of their jobs more efficient.

Intelligent machines increasingly scooting across America’s warehouse floors show just how. Companies use automated transporters to move packages without a human forklift driver. A few years ago, their adoption would have meant a layoff. These days, it means a promotion.

“People are so needed that it’s nearly impossible to displace a good worker,” says John Hayes, Charlotte, North Carolina-based vice president of sales and marketing at Vecna Robotics, which makes mechanized helpers for manufacturers and shippers. “What they’re looking to do is automate the simplest of functions