Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Adapting to excel amid rapid impermanence

Adapting to excel amid rapid impermanence

Robot vs humans. (Photo: SNS) A recent Price water house Cooper’s study of 200,000 jobs in 29 countries said evolving technology like automation and robotics could deliver good and bad news: predicted changes adding $US 15 trillion to global GDP, but also causing about 44 per cent of workers to lose their jobs within two decades.

India was not included in the PwC study released in February (probably due to the juicy reputation its accountants have in the country), with Japan, South Korea and Singapore being the only major Asian economies featured. PwC researchers estimated effects of three waves of […]

OPINION: No slave to the machine: AI to enable humans

OPINION: No slave to the machine: AI to enable humans

“A fundamental risk to the existence of human civilisation,” says Elon Musk. “Potentially the worst event in the history of our civilisation,” says Stephen Hawking.

CAPE TOWN – Despite the reservations of several leading technologists and scientists – most notably among them Messrs Musk and Hawking – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most exciting and possibly useful technological developments in our history. It has the potential of driving productivity and economic growth by facilitating unprecedented human-machine collaboration.

There are hopes that AI will improve competitiveness and ensure citizen well being. It will liberate us from mundane, unfulfilling tasks and […]

Automation’s Impact On Employment Is Already Here

This was still two years before John Maynard Keynes would coin the term “technological unemployment” — but over a century after people had begun to fear the concept.

The most famous resisters, of course, were the Luddites. Ask 100 people what they know about Luddites, and you’ll get something along the lines of, “They smashed up machines because they didn’t like technology.”

It’s a tidy narrative. But the real world is rarely that tidy.According to Clive Thompson in Smithsonian magazine , at the turn of the 19th century, weavers, spinners and croppers were high-skilled workers who took pride in their products […]

Workforce Gap Grows as Boomers Retire

Workforce Gap Grows as Boomers Retire

Manufacturers are having difficulty finding skilled workers. Many are trying creative approaches to close the gap.

The manufacturing industry is experiencing growing pressure as it becomes more difficult to find available talent to run operations. A perfect storm of issues has formed, making it increasingly difficult to find skilled labor. One of the biggest challenges is the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. Many of the industry’s highest skilled workers are now beginning to leave. The number of Boomers retiring will increase precipitously over the next five years. Building the right team of skilled workers is a puzzle that is […]

Sketch: The robots are coming

Sketch: The robots are coming

A Scottish Parliament debate on automation and artificial intelligence brings about the start of the robot uprising When we look back on the robot uprising, the fact it all began in the Scottish Parliament will probably be regarded as an interesting historical footnote. There are, after all, more obvious places for it to start: Silicon Valley; The Pentagon; some sort of doomsday lab. But no. As it happened, the revolution ignited in the Holyrood chamber.

Maybe the blame lies with Tory MSP Bill Bowman, who started the whole thing by asking the Scottish Government “what action it is taking to […]

MEI: Signs of optimistic hiring outlook in 2018

MEI: Signs of optimistic hiring outlook in 2018

By SIOW NAN YEE / Graphic By TMR

ONLINE hiring activity in Malaysia showed a 2% yearon- year (YoY) growth, according to data collected from the Monster Employment Index (MEI) by Monster.com in December 2017.

The global employment website said hiring activities in Malaysia grew during the second half of the year and this optimistic sentiment is expected to continue in 2018.The overall MEI Malaysia results showed that the information technology (IT), telecommunication and IT-related operations, and oil and gas (O&G) industry led the online recruitment activity among other sectors.Meanwhile, the retail sector and customer service roles had registered the […]

How to Make or Break Your Financial Goals

How to Make or Break Your Financial Goals

Opening my inbox yesterday, the headline that greeted me was:

‘Stocks sink to the worst monthly decline since 2016’

My thought bubble was one of feigned surprise… Shock horror…markets actually fall.I continued scrolling down and I came across an article from Geopolitical Futures titled ‘The Middle of an Era’.Given that my days are consumed with writing a book on impermanence and that nothing stays the same forever, the title drew me in. What era are we in the middle of, I thought?The article looked at the changing geopolitical landscape every two decades from 1900.Here’s an extract up to 1960: […]

As machines take over mundane tasks, what skills will be needed in the modern corporation?

As machines take over mundane tasks, what skills will be needed in the modern corporation?

A vast global revolution is changing every aspect of our modern existence and, unsurprisingly, there is much doom and gloom about its impact on our working lives. In a study of 46 countries, The McKinsey Global Institute predicted that around half of all jobs worldwide have the potential to be automated. Another 2017 study for the US National Bureau of Economic Research, found that robots were replacing around 400,000 manufacturing jobs a year.
Others are less apocalyptic. The OECD, for one, estimates that just nine per cent of jobs are high risk of being automated with another 25 […]

Universal Basic Income could ease the pain of being replaced by robots

Universal Basic Income could ease the pain of being replaced by robots

As automation becomes more prevalent, it’s time to seriously consider a Universal Basic Income. (Courtesy image) The future is upon us, and we are woefully unprepared. Earlier this week, my friend and colleague, Joe Fitz, wrote an article about driverless cars operating “without humans” in California . It talked about how, starting April 2, truly driverless cars can begin rolling down streets so the technology can be properly tested. Up until now, these vehicles have been cruising our roads with someone behind the wheel — to intervene, if necessary. This is a big step forward.

Once this technology becomes mainstream […]

Canadians need to ‘future-proof’ their careers as more jobs become automated: report

Canadians need to 'future-proof' their careers as more jobs become automated: report

A car on a production line in Germany. Many jobs are expected to be replaced by some form of automation in the next decade, from general labour to professional services. Finding the human element in any field is essential to future-proofing careers according to a new report by Deloitte. (Tobias Schwarz/Reuters) The affordability crisis in Vancouver is well documented, with the cost of living outstripping incomes, threatening quality of life for many.

And now there are warnings that people’s incomes may be under threat as the workforce becomes ever more automated.

As cars begin to drive themselves and machines become more […]