Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Joe Biden opposes Mark Zuckerberg and other execs on giving Americans free cash handouts

Joe Biden opposes Mark Zuckerberg and other execs on giving Americans free cash handouts

Unlike Mark Zuckerberg and various other tech and business moguls, former Vice President Joe Biden rejects the idea of giving Americans free cash handouts, an idea also known as universal basic income.

"There is a better way forward," he argues in a blog post on the University of Delaware’s website .

UBI would guarantee citizens regular payments from the government, regardless of employment status, wealth or age. That could help make up for the loss of jobs to robots, for example, since a study from Oxford University researchers predicts that 47 percent of U.S. jobs could be replaced by automated technology […]

The Paradox of Worry About Job-Taking Robots in an Environment of Labor Shortages

The Paradox of Worry About Job-Taking Robots in an Environment of Labor Shortages

The big idea that has captured much of our collective imagination is that the robots are coming to take our jobs. Well, maybe not our jobs – as higher ed people seem convinced that no A.I. could ever do what they do. But everyone else’s job.

At every academic / educational technology conference that I attend we always end up talking about robots. Those of us who work at liberal arts colleges actually feel pretty good about the future of robots, as we think that our broad education in communication, collaboration, and creativity will withstand automation. Still, even the liberal […]

The big theory our next pay rise depends on could be wrong

The big theory our next pay rise depends on could be wrong

In the past few months, employment has been going quite well. Treasurer Scott Morrison is gloating about the 300,000 new jobs made in the past 12 months — 80 per cent of them full time. (He doesn’t mention wages growth much though because it is still remarkably bad.)

The Reserve Bank is chuffed too. After a lot of panic, they are grasping at signs that our economy is getting back to normal. They acknowledge wages growth is low but expect it to start “picking up gradually in response to the strengthening labour market”.

That’s certainly what you’d expect to happen. Basic […]

Can robots coexist with humans?

Can robots coexist with humans?

Working together: will robots be central to our future? Katie Dolamore

With advances in artificial intelligence forging ahead, it’s time to think seriously about how we see robots fitting into our society.

Of all the tech trends dominating headlines at the moment, artificial intelligence (AI) seems to be generating the most debate.As we continue to develop this technology – at a seemingly exponential rate – we face increasing pressure to examine the role we really want it to fulfil, and how it should be integrated.With many high-profile figures – from Stephen Hawking to Elon Musk – warning of […]

E-Learning Platforms Take European Telecommunications Companies by Storm

E-Learning Platforms Take European Telecommunications Companies by Storm

At many top telecommunications companies around Europe, there’s a problem: some of the manufacturing technology they designed is working too well. The Siemens Electronics Plant in Amberg Germany, for example, houses hundreds of different intelligent, automated machines that collectively produce over 950 different products in 50,000 variations. These machines make a mistake with only 12 devices per million.

For shareholders, that sounds like great news, but for factory employees, that sounds like they’re out of a job. Large-scale factory automation is here, and many who formerly relied on line jobs are updating their CVs and scanning job listings.

Manufacturing Needs […]

Unemployment Is So 2009: Labor Shortage Gives Workers an Edge

Unemployment Is So 2009: Labor Shortage Gives Workers an Edge

A worker monitoring an embroidery sewing machine at a mattress factory in New Jersey. Is a new golden age for the American worker around the corner?

For the last couple of years, workers’ median earnings have been rising on a sustained path not seen in years.

This may come as a surprise after decades of wage stagnation, when the good jobs of an earlier industrial era — in which workers could go straight from high school to a lifelong place on the factory floor, with a pension on the other end — have largely disappeared, replaced in many cases by work […]

Joe Biden Just Chose a Side in the Universal Basic Income Debate

Joe Biden Just Chose a Side in the Universal Basic Income Debate

Former Vice President Joe Biden has just taken a side in the Universal Basic Income debate — and with his take on preparing for the future, he’s betting against some of the biggest innovators in Silicon Valley. Biden Won’t Back UBI

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a economic safety net system in which everyone — regardless of their age, employment status, economic status, household size, or other factors — is guaranteed a minimum income. In other words, it’s guaranteed money that everyone gets just for being a part of society. This salary is intended to provide people with enough […]

Don’t assume AI will automatically destroy jobs, Singularity University chair says

Don’t assume AI will automatically destroy jobs, Singularity University chair says

Singularity University chair and eParachute founder Gary Boles (son of What Colour is Your Parachute author Richard Boles) discusses AI’s impact on the future of work with MaRS managing director Krista Jones during the second day of the Elevate Toronto conference on Sept. 13. TORONTO – Outside of tech circles, responses to the growing capabilities of artificial intelligence are often filled with more trepidation than anticipation, with many statistics emphasizing AI’s ability to eliminate jobs rather than create them – but according to a leading employment expert, there’s no need to worry.

During a Sept. 13 appearance at the first-ever […]

Why international trade matters for Illinois

Why international trade matters for Illinois

Illinois will need more foreign investment, and major reforms to the state’s business climate, in order to get off the weak economic path it now treads.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has just returned from an eight-day trip to Japan and China – his administration’s first international trade mission.

Illinoisans should hope the governor can help bring international job creators and investment to the state to stimulate a lackluster employment picture. Rather than being a burden on Illinois families, international trade has largely served as a blessing, and has the potential to jumpstart the Land of Lincoln’s sluggish growth. State of the state […]

Joe Biden Just Chose a Side in the Universal Basic Income Debate

Joe Biden Just Chose a Side in the Universal Basic Income Debate

Former Vice President Joe Biden has just taken a side in the Universal Basic Income debate — and with his take on preparing for the future, he’s betting against some of the biggest innovators in Silicon Valley. Biden Won’t Back UBI

Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a economic safety net system in which everyone — regardless of their age, employment status, economic status, household size, or other factors — is guaranteed a minimum income. In other words, it’s guaranteed money that everyone gets just for being a part of society. This salary is intended to provide people with enough […]