By: Adam Siegel and Andrew BurtonThe washing machine.
The cleaning station.
The toilet.
The washing line.
The dryer.
All the washing machines in America are equipped with a powerful, robotic cleaning robot called the Grocer.
And unlike humans, these machines do not need to be washed by humans.
Grocer robots have been around for decades, but the technology has been used for decades to do much more than simply clean your machine.
They’ve been used to take care of other chores, too.
They’ve been employed in the laundry, for example, and they’ve been installed in homes and businesses for a long time.
Grocers are the most common jobs in America that are currently automated, according to a study from PricewaterhouseCoopers that analyzed job postings for cleaning services.
According to the study, cleaning jobs have been trending downward for years, with the exception of one specific occupation, where cleaning jobs rose significantly over the past decade.
In 2014, the number of cleaning jobs dropped to 12,857, from 16,569 the previous year.
In 2020, that number jumped to 17,638.
In 2024, the same year Grocer saw a decline, it was up to 18,933 jobs, up from 20,746.
In 2025, the year after Grocer fell to 14,908, it hit 20,936 jobs, which increased to 27,715 in 2021.
In 2022, the jobs fell to 24,534, down from 28,812.
In 2019, it dropped to 20,856, down to 25,847.
In 2018, it fell to 22,094, down the list.
In 2017, Grocer was down to 19,902, down a mere 10 from the previous time the Grocers numbers were analyzed.
That year, Grocers job figures dropped to 22.4 million, down 10.2 percent from the year before.