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Will the world really be 50 million workers short by 2030?

Is Nvidia boss Jensen Huang right about a looming labour shortfall?

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says the world faces a severe labour shortage – 50 million workers by the end of the decade.
The boss of the world’s most valuable company thinks humanoid robots will be needed to fill the gap.

But is this prediction based on solid evidence?

Tim Harford looks at the calculations behind the claim with Rajiv Gupta, a technology expert at Boston Consulting Group, who is the likely source of the 50 million figure.

If you’ve seen a number in the news you think we should look at, email the team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Tim Harford
Producer: Nicholas Barrett
Series producer: Tom Colls
Sound mix: Hal Haines
Editor: Richard Vadon

Release date:

9 minutes

On radio

Saturday 04:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Saturday 04:50GMT
  • Saturday 17:50GMT
  • Sunday 04:50GMT
  • Sunday 08:50GMT
  • Sunday 10:50GMT
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