Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

‘Uber isn’t perfect, but politics is about the signals you send worldwide’

‘Uber isn’t perfect, but politics is about the signals you send worldwide’

© Adrian Dennis, AFP | A Black cab taxi driver waves a Union flag as taxis block a road in central London as they protest against how transport is run in the capital on November 8, 2016. Transport for London’s (TFL) decision last week not to renew Uber’s operating license in the British capital brought both praise and condemnation, and sparked a wider debate on the merits of the service still operating in over 96 European cities.

London’s mayor Sadiq Khan supported the TFL’s decision, which cited the firm’s approach to reporting criminal offences and background checks on its […]

AI won’t put you out of work – your future job doesn’t exist yet

AI won't put you out of work – your future job doesn't exist yet

The rise of the machines is something that has been the center of many a sci-fi dystopian epic, but do we really have to fear the proliferation of artificial intelligence now that it’s a reality?

According to renowned futurist and director of engineering at Google Ray Kurzweil, the answer is no. The rise of automation will almost undoubtedly make many human jobs redundant but that’s no bad thing. And not the first time it’s happened either.

“We have already eliminated all jobs several times in human history,” Kurzweil told Fortune , “How many jobs circa 1900 exist today? If I were […]

Driverless Trucks Will Be (Mostly) Great

Driverless Trucks Will Be (Mostly) Great

A little scary. Mostly good. For generations, the open road has provided good jobs for Americans, whether truckers, novelists or country-music lyricists. Soon it may be crowded with some less sympathetic protagonists: self-driving robots.

Trucks with some degree of automation are already plying ore mines, hauling freight and making beer runs. Investment is pouring into the industry. As Congress debates a new law to promote self-driving technology, however, it may exempt big commercial vehicles in the hope of saving trucking jobs. That won’t work. But it might succeed in holding back innovation and growth.

For starters, automation doesn’t only replace jobs. […]

The fear of automation: Technology actually creates jobs

If you think about it, many of the great inventions over the last 200 years were designed to replace human labor. In the past, technical advances caused temporary disruptions but ultimately improved living standards, creating new categories of employment along the way. Tractors were developed to substitute a farmer’s sweat labor, alleviate the need for a manual plow and horse. That helped them to find better ways to manage their crops, changing the farming industry.

Today their great-grandchildren may design video games instead of taking on the family business.

Assembly lines were created to replace the inconsistent human, with the constant […]

CONTROLS ENGINEER, Automation

Are you an Automation Engineer?

You are a brilliant, focused, energetic engineer capable of professional-level work in a variety of areas.

You have excellent communications skills and work well with all kinds of people.You have experience in many of these areas:* PLC programming * Motion Control * Robot programming with 4, 5 and 6 axis and cartesian robots * SCADA * Machine Vision (Cognex, Keyence) * HMI * Allen-Bradley * Siemens * Control panel layout * Controls schematics * SolidWorksYour education includes:* Bachelor’s degree in a technical field * Specific training in some areas of automation and controls * A […]

Labor MP ridicules universal basic income push and says it would worsen inequality

Labor MP ridicules universal basic income push and says it would worsen inequality

The Labor MP Jim Chalmers has ridiculed the push to introduce a universal basic income in Australia, saying it would be a “backward step” for workers that could increase inequality and cost the budget billions.

His criticism of the concept puts him squarely alongside the shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, who has been pushing back for months against internal and external calls to adopt the welfare policy .

Chalmers has cemented his critique of universal basic income in a new book, co-written with Mike Quigley, the former chief executive of NBN Co, on technological change, the labour force and inequality called Changing […]

While India Suffers From Poor Job Creation, Govt Has a Million Vacancies

While India Suffers From Poor Job Creation, Govt Has a Million Vacancies

He started his electoral campaign with a tag line that Achhe Din Aane Wale Hai. He made us believe in the power of social media. He created a campaign of Aadhar card and made it mandatory for the opening up of bank accounts, PAN , Sim card and to avail the government subsidies. His much- hyped demonetization drive gave a huge blow to common man. His perfectionist attitude made many cabinet ministers (Uma Bharti, Rajiv Pratap Rudy) to resign from their respective posts. But amidst these good things, we feel that the background is gloomy. Thinking why we are […]

WE NEED FRESH IDEAS FOR RETHINKING PRODUCTIVITY

WE NEED FRESH IDEAS FOR RETHINKING PRODUCTIVITY

The recent OCED ( Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) “Compendium of Productivity 2017” publication showed global growth, measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product), should rise from 2.1% in 2016, to 3.5% in 2017, and 3.7% in 2018. Though this is good news, these growth numbers are below those before the financial crises started in 2008.

The OCED report states most of the world is stuck in a “low growth trap” . OCED has put the spotlight on productivity as the causality. Productivity continues to decline over the long term, way before the global financial crises.

OCED shows that productivity […]

Robo-pocalypse not-quite-Now

Robo-pocalypse not-quite-Now

Another day, another apocalyptic story about robots stealing human jobs. This time, the headlines shout that over four million UK private sector jobs will be seized by machines, AKA 15% of the total workforce.

Unusually, the story is sourced from YouGov statistics, which are quoted in a new report, The Age of Automation , published by the RSA. However, closer reading of the 83-page document reveals the mainstream media headlines to be sensationalist and inaccurate.

That’s no surprise, but it does little to help organizations locate the signal in the constant media noise about a machine apocalypse.What the statistics actually say […]

Around the web: America’s missing start-ups, AI and employment, and students’ views on the First Amendment

Where have all the start-ups gone? — NYT We’ve got lots of pieces now that say dynamism has gone down a lot since 2000,” said John Haltiwanger, a University of Maryland economist who has done much of the pioneering work in the field. “Start-ups have gone down a lot since 2000, especially in the high-tech sectors, and there are increasingly strong links to productivity.” What is behind the decline in entrepreneurship is less clear. Economists and other experts have pointed to a range of possible explanations: The aging of the baby-boom generation has left fewer Americans in their prime […]