# A Better Integration of Industrial Robots in Romanian Enterprises and the Labour Market
## 1 Introduction  
Nowadays, it is generally accepted that modern technologies (automation, IT&C, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, digital technologies) are key determinants for long-term sustainable, smart, and inclusive socio-economic development. In particular, IT&C, AI, and digital technologies have significant effects on total factors and/or labor productivity. Our paper focuses on the impact of robotics on labor productivity, and also considering the expected undesirable consequences with respect to employment rates and standards of living. The main goal of the paper is to illustrate the current state of industrial robot implementation in Romanian enterprises and the labor market in contrast with other European economies. The paper provides additional insights into the evolution of Romanian labor demand, as manifested with respect to automation and digitalization processes. We consider that, in the context of embracing recently developed technologies, Romania has a high potential to develop, from both an economic and social point of view, into a competitive country and transition towards a \"knowledge and innovation-based\" economy, which would translate to better job opportunities and standards of living for its residents. Our research is built on relevant data retrieved from different databases such as: the International Federation of Robotics, Eurostat, and Data World Bank's development indicators. Our paper highlights the impact of industrial robots within enterprises, mostlyin terms of the perceived standard of living through GDP per capita. It illustrates the variance of structural business results and the main components that encourage Romanian enterprises towards a better integration of industrial robots. In the first part, we conducted exploratory research based on secondary data regarding the evolution of the robotics sector in Romania in connection with the dynamics of the global and European Union robotics market, with respect to selected key variables, such as robotics density and enterprise use. Furthermore, we evaluated the distribution of industrial robots within enterprises from other developed countries, using the clustering method. In order to support our initial assumption that Romania's economic landscape might benefit from a more comprehensive integration of robotics, we also performed a principal components analysis, which revealed the main factors that contributed to the recent dynamics of business statistics. Furthermore, we illustrated, based on a time-series analysis, how countries from each cluster may perform in terms of the perceived standard of living. Over the past decades, many researchers have highlighted the main consequences the large-scale implementation of emerging technologies (such as automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and robotics) has on the standards of living and on economics (considering macro and microeconomics perspectives). \"The robots are no longer coming; they are here\" [1] suggested the Nobel laureate in Economics, [PERSON], at the beginning of August 2020, when he highlighted the amplified effects of the global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. More and more, SMEs worldwide must face the challenges of the so-called \"new normal\" [2]; including, but not being limited to concerns regarding labor productivity and the availability of highly-qualified IT&C specialists, supply chain disruptions, cash flow accessibility, and the high level of risk and uncertainty brought by the frequent and random legislative changes. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic illustrated the crisis of healthcare systems. These systems are overloaded, and medical staff are usually constrained both by time and capabilities; as a result, doctors became unable to offer appropriate healthcare. Despite the social distancing regulations, the cases of infected people reached significant numbers among workers. Consequently, several institutions worldwide pushed to adopt robots [3] for some treatments, food delivery, vital sign check-ups, or supply assistance.