A、It’s a big U.S. multinational corporation. B、It has made investments in sales of furniture. C、It has got impressive growth. D、

Outsourcing production by using cheap labor in the developing world has sustained the global economy for decades. But technology could be about to turn that on its head.
    Research from the Overseas Development Institute focused on the example of furniture manufacturing in Africa. In the next 15 to 20 years, robots in the US are actually going to become much cheaper than Kenyan labor, particularly in the furniture manufacturing industry. So this means that around 2033, American companies will find it much more profitable to reshore production back, which means essentially get all the jobs and production back from the developing countries to the US. And that obviously can have very significantly negative effects for jobs in Africa.
    As robots are getting cheaper, people are getting more expensive. The cost of a robot and the cost of a 3D printer are declining at similar levels, around 6 percent annually. So that’s a significant decline, whereas wages in developing countries are rising.
    By 2038, the ODI predicts it will be cheaper to make clothing in the United States using robots than to import it from Ethiopia. Last year Sports giant Adidas invested in automated plants in Germany and the United States including using 3D printers to make these sneakers. That has led to loss like 1,000 jobs in Vietnam until now and that’s going to be significantly increased in the future. Adidas bosses say they do not envisage further large-scale reshoring of jobs. But there is no doubting the challenges posed by automation to manual labor in developing countries.
    Some are fighting back. Kenyan firm Funkidz has invested heavily in computer-aided design and manufacturing of furniture. Using these technologies, they’ve been able to achieve impressive growth and they’ve also expanded to regional markets like Rwanda and Uganda. Funkidz CEO says the government needs to match her firm’s enthusiasm for technology. She says, “we have machines that sit idle because we don’t have skilled people. There are many people who need jobs. Yes, we agree, but if they have no skill… I would love to employ you, but you need a skill, otherwise you cannot operate our machines. So we are urging all institutions, government, please let us take this skill gap as a crisis.”
    That call is echoed by the ODI report authors, who urge African governments to use the current window of opportunity to build industrial capabilities and digital skills before the jobs crunch hits.
    Question 22. What does the speaker say will happen to the furniture manufacturing industry?
    Question 23. What can we learn about the cost of a robot and the cost of a 3D printer?
    Question 24. In which country have job losses been caused by Adidas’ using 3D printers to make sneakers?
    Question 25. What can we learn about Funkidz?