Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Another Day, Another Dollar, Part III

Another Day, Another Dollar, Part III

Image source: Amazon.com, Inc. December 2019 — Myth Buster

Parts I and II of this series looked at the pervasive nature of sweatshops inside the US and Europe, the world’s wealthiest regions. Part III uncovers a curious and unexpected entrant into the overwork/underpay culture. How about a new twist: a major high tech sweatshop addict? The Myth Buster has previously tackled the fight for delivery leadership between Walmart [ ( WMT )] and Amazon [ ( AMZN )], a battle that rages on. But, Amazon also ranks as a major purveyor of low wages.

Will the Real Amazon […]

Why Worry About Automation?

Why Worry About Automation?

UnitoneVector/Getty Images In previous periods of technological displacement of workers, economists like John Maynard Keynes and Wassily Leontief worried that too few new jobs would be created to prevent higher long-term unemployment. Today, facing an onrushing wave of digital automation, many share their misplaced unease.

LONDON – From the Luddite movement in the early nineteenth century to the writings of prominent economists like John Maynard Keynes and Wassily Leontief generations later, the prospect of automation has always raised serious concerns about jobs. Keynes and Leontief doubted there would be enough jobs left for workers to do. Today, facing an onrushing […]

Brexit voters more likely to live in areas at risk from rise of robots

Brexit voters more likely to live in areas at risk from rise of robots

Brexit supporters are more likely to live in areas most threatened by the economic impact of automation, according to a study of the impact of robots and artificial intelligence in the workplace.

A map of the parts of the UK likely to be hit by automation fits more closely with the map of leave voters than any other factor, said the Institute for the Future of Work (IFW) .

Up to 15 million workers are expected to have their employment prospects endangered by automation over the next decade, according to a series of reports that have tried to gauge the […]

Smart Factories and its Viability in India

Smart Factories and its Viability in India

A recent study from Capgemini Research Institute suggests that smart factories hold the potential of contributing at least $1.5 trillion to the global economy over the next four years through benefits such as productivity gains, improvements in quality and market share and customer services.

The research report, published by wire agency IANS further goes on to suggest that smart factories, leveraging digital technology, transformed 30 per cent of factories over the past two years. It said that 33 per cent of the organizations that planned to covert in 2017 have done so now. The report goes on to add […]

Book review: Science fiction talking about robots, not quite talking to robots

Book review: Science fiction talking about robots, not quite talking to robots

It is remarkable that even in 2019, Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics (first detailed in the 1942 story Runaround ) still offer the most accessible gateway to discussing robotics – and “robopsychology”.

David Ewing Duncan quotes Asimov’s First Law of Robotics even prior to the prelude of Talking to Robots, which serves up a tantalising clue as to the speculative (not to say, fictional) nature of his work. Unlike proper science fiction though, Duncan isn’t seeing too far into the future – only about 30 years hence. And even here, he is extrapolating from present circumstance, based on his […]

Solution for the shortage of skilled workers?

Solution for the shortage of skilled workers?

But it’s not that simple: digitisation and automation cannot replace the skilled workers needed. Digitisation and automation of skilled workers give hope that the labour market will ease soon. According to experts, however, the topic has to be viewed in a differentiated way.

The economic downturn does not solve the skilled labour problem. However, just under half (48 %) of managers in mechanical engineering and plant construction believe that increasing automation and digitisation will alleviate the shortage, according to a recent survey by personnel service provider Hays. Experts take a critical view of this. “Especially in the highly qualified segment, […]

White collar workers will be most affected by AI in the new economy, study suggests

White collar workers will be most affected by AI in the new economy, study suggests

In 2015, Stanford University Ph.D. student Michael Webb watched as his classmates in the computer science program became increasingly interested in the advancements of artificial intelligence (AI). An outlier, he was more focused on the economic implications of the technologies.

But there was a dearth of reports that solely focused on the impact AI has on different sectors and occupations. Instead, most analyses generalized technology to include a wide range of automation and software.

Although often used interchangeably, AI and automation are not one and the same: AI technologies are designed to mimic human thinking and actions, while automation performs repetitive […]

We Would Rather Lose Our Jobs To Robots Than Humans, A Study Shows

We Would Rather Lose Our Jobs To Robots Than Humans, A Study Shows

sorbetto via Getty Images Losing a job can be stressful and demoralizing. Seeing your role replaced by automation is an additional stressor that more workers will have to contend with and worry about in the future.

Robots are already replacing people in some jobs. Apps take orders in chain restaurants, and some supermarkets use self-checkout machines to replace checkers. This is the new reality. The Brookings Institution predicts that 36 million Americans face a “high exposure to automation” in the coming decades, meaning they will have more than 70% of their role at risk of being substituted by artificial intelligence.

If […]

How Automation is Impacting Jobs and Wages

How Automation is Impacting Jobs and Wages

Automation has the potential to improve productivity while lowering overhead costs. There’s no question that automation will touch virtually every industry, but will it wipe out the human workforce entirely?

In the future, robots could replace a human workforce . But for now, experts say that only about a quarter of jobs will be on the chopping block.

Here’s how automation is shaping the job market and wage growth. 25% of Jobs are Threatened by Automated According to researchers at Brookings Institution, only 25% of U.S. occupations are at a “high risk” of losing jobs due to advancements in automation. […]

Entrepreneurship is key to solving youth unemployment

Entrepreneurship is key to solving youth unemployment

Wee So-yeon By Wee So-yeon
Korea has been through an extraordinary economic success often referred to as the miracle on the Han River. This was a blossoming moment of the country with apparent economic progress being made, surprising the whole world by becoming a powerful country from one of the poorest countries of the time. However, such incredible growth in the economy now seems to have reached the end, Korea stuck in a stagnant point.
One of the most critical consequences of this sluggish economy is that there are not enough opportunities offered for youth in the labor market […]