Amazon enters the age of robots. What does that mean for its workers?

People have predicted robots will destroy the labour market, but Amazon believes investment in robotics could create jobs

Trapped in a metal cage in a corner of a 350,000 sq ft Amazon warehouse outside Boston last week a lonely yellow robot arm sorted through packages, preparing items to be shipped out to customers who demand ever-faster delivery. Soon it will be joined by others in a development that could mean the end of thousands of jobs and, Amazon argues, the creation of thousands of others.

As the robot worked, a screen displayed its progress. It carefully packed a tub of protein powder, next came a box of napkin rings then ... a tube of hemorrhoid cream. As 100 journalists from around the world snapped pictures, someone switched the screen to hide the cream.