Robots could do work of 3.5 million people by '25

Robots could be performing the work of 3.52 million people by 2025 to help cover a labor shortage in the graying society, an industry body said Thursday.

The Machine Industry Memorial Foundation has estimated that "working robots" under development by Honda Motor Co. and many other leading companies could take over about 970,000 jobs in medical and nursing care services.

In the agriculture and forestry sector, 450,000 jobs could be held by robots if harvesting and pruning robots spread widely, according to the foundation, an affiliate of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

In services such as cleaning and delivery, robots could do the jobs of 1.41 million people.

It projects that 74 minutes of free time per household could be created each day by robots that do household chores such as cleaning. This could help more women enter the labor market, the foundation said.

Japan could face a labor shortage of 4.27 million people in 2025 on the back of the declining birthrate and mass retirement of baby boomers, but the foundation's projections indicate that about 80 percent of the labor shortage could be covered if advanced robots become popular.

The government has been considering using more foreign workers and retired people to address these issues.