Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Inside Labour: Will it be man vs machine in a frightening future?

Inside Labour: Will it be man vs machine in a frightening future?

I RECENTLY saw again the future of retail – and it works. At the same time, it frightens me. The same applies to many of the observed developments, especially in the service industries, along with the decline in trade union membership across the world.

These issues came starkly into focus during more than a month spent in Britain after a two-year absence. While Britain – and London in particular – may not be at the cutting edge of retail, it is a good guide to where countries such as South Africa are heading.

The spread of self-service is most evident, even […]

U.S. Textiles: Have No Fear, Automation Is Here

U.S. Textiles: Have No Fear, Automation Is Here

Switzerland-based Stäubli is a mechatronics provider with three dedicated activities: Connectors, Robotics and Textile. Automation continues to assist the growth of U.S. manufacturing.

By James Borneman, Editor In Chief

A common thread in recent investments in the U.S. textile industry seems to be the effectiveness of automation and process control in making the United States a globally competitive manufacturing destination. Many announcements cite four factors driving investment in U.S. textiles — superior cotton supply chain, relatively inexpensive and dependable energy supply, highly educated labor force that can handle automation, and good transportation infrastructure including ports and roads.The automation […]

Study: 60% of workforce will be independent by 2027

Study: 60% of workforce will be independent by 2027

Dive Brief:

MBO Partners, a service provider for the self-employed, predicts in a report that 60% of the workforce will be independent professionals by 2027.

The research also predicts that: independent work will be cyclical, with professionals switching back and forth between employment and independent work to gain new skills; independent workers will be concentrated in either the very high-paying or very low-paying ends of the "gig" spectrum; organizations will focus on the results "gig" workers provide and not their labor; and independent workers will team up to provide services. As technology continues to evolve, researchers predict that […]

INSIGHTS Finally Oracle

INSIGHTS Finally Oracle

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Oracle showed some very good numbers in its latest earnings announcement. As it begins its second year of aggressive cloud promotion, the company overall is showing significant year-over-year improvements, thanks to its turn to cloud infrastructure, applications and platforms. Yet when read right, the numbers announce the […]

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 […]