PHOTO GALLERY: Technology changes workforce

By The Associated Press

January 24, 2013 | 12:01 a.m. CST

The number of meter readers in the U.S. fell from 48,000 in 2000 to 36,000 in 2010. It's just one example of technological advances that have increased production while employers have been able to reduce the number of workers needed to get the job done.

On Jan. 11, PG&E employee Art Liscano, 66, reads a meter at a house in Clovis, Calif. The number of meter readers in the U.S. fell from 48,000 in 2000 to 36,000 in 2010. Every day, PG&E replaces 1,200 old-fashioned meters with digital versions that can collect information without human help, generate more accurate power bills, and even send an alert if the power goes out. | Gosia Wozniacka/The Associated Press

Rosser Pryor, co-owner and president of Factory Automation Systems, right, looks over plans with John Ridgley, project manager, next to a high-performance industrial robot at the company's Atlanta facility. Factory Automation Systems cut 40 of 100 workers since the recession and instead is investing in automation and software.
| David Goldman/The Associated Press

Webb Wheel Products employees watch as the Doosan V550M drills holes in one side of a 130-lb CK drum without help from humans at Webb Wheel Products in Cullman, Ala. Webb Wheel hasn't added a factory worker in three years, though it's making 300,000 more drums annually, a 25 percent increase, because of robots. | Dave Martin/The Associated Press