9. Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Robot Employment and Digitalization in Employment

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected all countries of the world in many areas since the first day it was seen. The virus, which was first seen in China, spread to other countries over time and was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. In order to tackle the virus, people were prevented from being in groups; events, sports competitions and conferences were cancelled; and distance education was started by using technology. The aim was to prevent people from coming together and to reduce the spread of the virus. As a result of the measures taken within the scope of struggling the COVID-19 pandemic, practices such as social distancing, lockdown and quarantine caused significant changes in social life, and also their reflections on the economy were negative. The slowdown in production, the increase in unemployment and the recession can be given as examples of these negative results. In this context, sectors that want to continue their economic activities have resorted to policies such as creating an unmanned work environment by making use of digital technologies or enabling people to work from home with the remote working method instead of working in the office. This situation has led to an increase in digitalization and automation in employment, which had a positive momentum before the pandemic. In the last twenty years, technology has reached a very advanced level in economy and employment, as in all areas of life. Digitalization in employment and employment of robots increase significantly every year, thanks to technological advances such as artificial intelligence, cloud technology and the Internet of Things. On the basis of these technologies, whose importance has increased considerably today, there is the knowledge and technology accumulation created by the industrial revolutions. All industrial revolutions, from the first industrial revolution to the present, have produced economic and social consequences. Especially, the mechanization in agriculture has caused many people to be unemployed. Today, the advancement of automation and robotic technologies has increased the use of these technologies in employment. As a natural consequence of this, as many international research institutions have reported, it is predicted that in the near future, occupations made by people today will be completely automated and unemployment will increase. Since applications such as social distance, full closure and quarantine, which entered our lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have brought production to a halt, many sectors have sought ways to carry out their activities with as few people as possible by shifting their investments to digital technologies. In this context, while unmanned aerial and ground vehicles are used more widely for contactless delivery, it is planned to meet the needs of people without creating crowded environments with measures such as remote working and online trade.

In accordance with these policies carried out to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic, remote working has been adopted in many sectors and has brought the necessity of robots to the agenda. In this context, the question of “should robots be taxed”, which started to be discussed before the COVID-19 pandemic, becomes more important. In addition, whether or not to pay social security premiums for robots has been one of the issues that started to be discussed. At the same time, due to the possibility of unemployment of a large part of the population with the increase in robot employment, the issue of providing a certain amount of monthly income to people to meet their basic needs with the universal basic income application is emphasized. A financing is needed for this income transfer to the unemployed population. In this context, it is claimed that robots should be taxed. One of the reasons for the taxation of robots is that robots do the same work with people who work in the factory and are subject to tax on their income. Another reason is stated as ensuring the equality of competition between the company that employs the robot and the company that does not. However, besides these views, there are also those who argue that robots should not be taxed. As automation increases, production volume will increase, so it will positively affect economic growth. In addition, since more production means purchasing more raw materials, finished products and semi-finished products, people who employ robots will indirectly pay more taxes. It can be seen that taxation of robots is a new discussion topic. If digitalization and automation continue at the speed it has reached with the effect of COVID-19, it will be discussed more and its theoretical foundations will be completed in the near future.