Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Information technology jobs outpace most other jobs in productivity and growth since 2004

Information technology jobs outpace most other jobs in productivity and growth since 2004

Jobs in information technology-like computer software, big data, and cybersecurity-are providing American workers with long-lastings financial stability, suggests a new study from the University of British Columbia and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"The future of jobs is in IT, and IT-intensive tasks" said Giovanni Gallipoli, co-author and associate professor from the Vancouver School of Economics at UBC. "Growth and productivity in jobs involving IT tasks are very strong, and workers who can perform such tasks have a clear competitive advantage in the labour market."

The study reveals the well documented slow-down in employment and wage gains associated with skills and […]

A Woman’s Place Is in the Digital Revolution

A Woman’s Place Is in the Digital Revolution

Women’s access to the Internet and mobile phones is about 85% of the level for men, on average, and a total of 1.7 billion women in low- and middle-income countries are unconnected. Closing these gaps would enable women to seize opportunities in the industries that are shaping our collective future, benefiting all.

MONTREAL – Digital technologies are a double-edged sword for the world’s women. Men’s greater access to these technologies puts women at risk of being left even further behind economically and socially. But if women can tap the full power of digital technologies, vital new opportunities will open up […]

Automation and Jobs: When Technology Boosts Employment

47 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2017 Last revised: 28 Mar 2018 Abstract

Do industries shed jobs when they adopt new labor-saving technologies? Sometimes productivity-enhancing technology increases industry employment instead. In manufacturing, jobs grew along with productivity for a century or more; only later did productivity gains bring declining employment. What changed? Markets became saturated. While the literature on structural change provides reasons for the decline in the manufacturing share of employment, few papers can explain both the rise and subsequent fall. Using two centuries of data, a simple model of demand accurately explains the rise and fall of employment […]

Ohio can play offense with the AI revolution by investing in quality education: Eric A. Hanushek (Opinion)

Ohio can play offense with the AI revolution by investing in quality education: Eric A. Hanushek (Opinion)

Ohio can build on relative strength in math education to shore up the educational skills of Ohioans and better position the state for the coming artificial intelligence revolution, writes guest columnist and educational expert Eric A. Hanushek. ( COLUMBUS, Ohio — All states today worry about the coming of the machines – the artificial intelligence revolution . Ohio more than most other states has already seen much of the potential for automation changing the face of employment . The answer for the future is investing in "automation insurance" – quality education.

History has previously seen large changes in employment. Much […]

Hiring managers say AI will change how we work within five years

Hiring managers say AI will change how we work within five years

During the 1940s, AT&T employed more than 350,000 telephone switchboard operators — a job that’s nearly vanished. But, today, some estimates put the number of mobile app developers at 12 million individuals worldwide. Just as technologies and communications change, jobs likewise evolve. The workforce as we know it is in the throes of a revolution.

As new technologies emerge in what some have dubbed the Fourth Industrial Revolution , innovative companies have already begun to adapt, prompting reevaluations of workforce development strategies. Artificial intelligence, in particular, brings new possibilities — like increased productivity and innovation. It also has sweeping implications […]

Impact of AI on banking jobs: Industry’s reaction to ex-Barclays boss’ comments

Impact of AI on banking jobs: Industry’s reaction to ex-Barclays boss’ comments

An ex-Barclays chief executive last week claimed that AI will halve the number of jobs in the banking sector, but plenty of other industry voices have differing opinions concerning how the technology will affect financial services The impact of AI on banking jobs is a hotly-disputed topic that has been intensified after an ex-Barclays chief executive suggested the emerging technology will halve employment in the sector.

Antony Jenkins’ comments have received both support and opposition from many prominent figures, some of whom feel artificial intelligence (AI) is a threat to job security , and some who see it as an […]

No current jobs threat yet from AI, automation in labor front–DOLE

No current jobs threat yet from AI, automation in labor front–DOLE

When it comes to doing business, companies still prefer to keep their operations labor-intensive. At least for now.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it has yet to observe any game-changing shift in the local industries toward the so-called fourth industrial revolution with the mainstreaming of new technology like robotics and artificial intelligence (AI).

DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) cited the absence of a new massive displacement in industries that are expected to adapt to such innovation like the manufacturing and business-process outsourcing (BPO).“Companies are required to report anything related to displacement. This gives us a signal [on […]

As the age of AI looms, what is the future for labour and unions?

As the age of AI looms, what is the future for labour and unions?

Baxter the industrial robot, used on production lines, is on display at the Science Museum at Preview Of The Science Museum’s Robots Exhibition at Science Museum on February 7, 2017 in London, England. (Getty) Christo Aivalis is a postdoctoral fellow in the history department at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Constant Liberal: Pierre Trudeau, Organized Labour, and the Canadian Social Democratic Left.

Every year, Canadians gather in early September to celebrate Labour Day. For many, it serves primarily as summer’s last hurrah. But Labour Day transcends barbeques and the back-to-school blues, stretching as it […]

No more sweat and dust: Factory work in Germany goes digital

No more sweat and dust: Factory work in Germany goes digital

DIGITALISATION: A digital factory floor plan seen at Stuttgart University, part of the Arena 2036 university-backed research project focusing on the digitalisation of the car industry. Dust, oil and sawdust used to be part of daily life for employees at German machine tool maker and laser technology specialist Trumpf. Not anymore. At the company’s Stuttgart factory, a large metal plate glides across the floor in a self-driving pallet, as if led by an invisible hand. The halls are large, bright and noticeably clean – the human workers don’t need to haul around sheets of metal or work heavy levers, […]

Thanks to AI, the need for humans to work for survival could soon be at an end

Thanks to AI, the need for humans to work for survival could soon be at an end

Should we fear the rise of the robots? Earlier this month, a report warned that over 6 million workers in the UK fear losing their jobs as a result of developments in automation. The Bank of England has gone further: its own study in 2015 estimated that 15 million British jobs could be at risk; more recently Mark Carney, the bank’s governor, suggested job losses caused by the technological revolution could re-create conditions seen after the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The response to these warnings has been a flurry of comments in national newspapers, coloured by […]