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According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) Research shows the smart robotics sector will need 30,000 technical professionals by 2026.

Following analysis, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy stated on April 3, that it projects a demand of 30,889 professionals in the smart robotics sector. The figures are more than double the 2016 demand of 14,285.

The breakdown of demand by department is as follows: production technology/production (12,492), R&D (9,915), design (3,769) and evaluations/verification (1,929).

The study also examined the employment status of 240 companies in the sectorand found that the average number of employees was 18.2, and 84.4% of the companies had less than 30 employees.

Of the 240 companies, 58.4% were small companies with less than 9 employees and a mere 2.4% had more than 100 employees.

Despite their size, 85.3% of respondents reported sales, and 23.% of the companies expect sales to increase in the next 5 years and that the market will grow faster compared to other manufactured goods.

The number of employees in the smart robotics sector at the end of June, 2017 was 14,645, putting the labor shortage at 1,019, or 6.5% per company.

In light of the recent studies, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy is working to ease the labor shortage through a project to foster industrial employees.

The ministry will develop and operate graduate and doctorate programs related to 25 new-growth sectors including robotics, 3D printing and autonomous vehicles. It will also support field-training programs.

Moreover, the ministry will establish a Human Resources Development Council in cooperation with organizations, companies, academia and research institutes to cultivate talent with a focus on on-site work experience.

bluekey@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

** This article was translated from Korean.

Source: Yonhap News (Apr. 03, 2018)