Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

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 […]

How to Turn Workers into Innovators

How to Turn Workers into Innovators

In about a decade, one-third of current jobs could be automated. This doesn’t have to be a doomsday prediction if your plant can figure out how this paradigm shift will enhance your current workers.

Every week, there’s a new article about AI and automation becoming more efficient at manual tasks. By 2030, the McKinsey Institute estimates 39 to 73 million jobs — or one-third of the United States workforce — will be automated.

With no added context, this statistic sounds scary. Why would Americans invent themselves out of work? Unemployment and automation are not synonymous. Using these advancements, in tandem with […]

Why B.C. is the best prepared province to weather automation

Why B.C. is the best prepared province to weather automation

B.C. is one of two provinces best positioned to adapt to labour force changes resulting from automation, according to a C.D. Howe Institute report (via Zapp2Photo/Shutterstock) The automation of B.C.’s labour force won’t take the form of city buses being run by driverless programming or robotic limbs replacing kitchen staff.

At least not overnight.

But half of all Canadian jobs will be affected by automation over the next decade, according to a research paper released in March by RBC Economics.Humans Wanted found that the four million young Canadians entering the workforce in the next 10 years are “unprepared” for sweeping changes […]

The philosophy of profit over people

The philosophy of profit over people

Dear Editor,

The present world population is 7.6 billion as of August 2018 according to the most recent United Nations estimates. This is a testament of the success of human beings. From a biological perspective, we have been able to reach unprecedented population and still increasing with no end in sight. NASA plans to make oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars. Human beings are planning to take our species to populate distance planets in the future. In Belize people are more down to earth and care more about their quality of life, but everything is connected. In our modern world […]

Editorial: Raising minimum wage would cost jobs

Editorial: Raising minimum wage would cost jobs

Ballot drives for a $12 minimum wage and mandatory sick time appear to be headed for consideration in the Republican-controlled Legislature after Labor Day.

The calculus that has Republicans considering a move that would normally be anathema to their free-market principles is a political one, not an economic one.

The proposals likely would be a big lure for liberal-leaning voters to come out to the polls. That’s the situation Republicans are trying to avert in a year when many expect Democrats to make big gains, fueled by anti-Trump fervor. By passing the measures, the Legislature can keep the proposals off the […]

Automation Has Already Changed Your Job. Here’s How.

Automation Has Already Changed Your Job. Here’s How.

According to Pew Research, about 70% of Americans are wary of a world in which machines execute tasks instead of humans.

Clearly, “automation” is a scary word for a lot of people.

But automation doesn’t mean losing your job to a fleet of robots! Usually, automation involves streamlining smaller, repetitive tasks and letting technology take care of the things you don’t really want to do. We call this “workflow automation.”Workflow automation currently saves workers around the world millions of hours every year. And as the technology continues to improve, it’s helping employees work smarter and realize their full potential. In fact, […]

15 millions jobs in Britain at stake with AI robots set to replace humans at workforce

15 millions jobs in Britain at stake with AI robots set to replace humans at workforce

Earlier this week, the Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, gave a warning that the UK needs a skills revolution as up to 15 million jobs in Britain are at stake. This is apparently due to a “third machine age” where Artificial Intelligence is making a huge number of jobs that were previously the preserve of humans outdated.

Haldane says that this potential “Fourth Industrial Revolution” could cause disruptions on a “much greater scale” than the damage experienced during the first three Industrial Revolutions. This is because the first three industrial revolutions were mainly about machines replacing humans doing […]

Here’s how vulnerable to automation your job is

Here’s how vulnerable to automation your job is

What impact will the robot revolution have? Explore the latest strategic trends, research and analysis Another week, another warning about technology taking your job.

This time it comes in the shape of a report from the OECD that finds “the tasks that AI and robots cannot do are shrinking rapidly.” The report goes on to say 14% of jobs across 32 countries are “highly vulnerable” to automation.

Such themes are not new. A World Economic Forum report on jobs predicted the Fourth Industrial Revolution would transform labour markets and the Bank of England’s Chief Economist, Andy Haldane, has warned "large swathes" […]