[Nextgrid]

For automation to make sense from a business point of view the cost of developing & running the automation should be less than the cost of doing the work manually over an equivalent timeframe.

This is why for example there are a lot of bullshit office jobs that can be automated fairly easily but will not be because there's plenty of cheap labour to do it manually (for cheaper than what developing & maintaining the automation would cost) and it also earns them PR points about "creating" jobs.