Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Jobs – Automation Annihilation

Jobs – Automation Annihilation

By Garret Galland. Originally published at ValueWalk .

In January, 19 US states raised their respective minimum wages. Washington was among the most generous, hiking by $1.53 (bringing it to $11 per hour). Arizona got an increase of $1.95—their “bottom rung” now sits at $10 per hour.

In all, 4.3 million workers are slated to receive a hike as they earn less than the new minimum wage in their respective states. Well, that’s what’s meant to happen. Judging by the fallout from recent hikes, it seems things aren’t going according to plan. Minimum Wage Massacre DrSJS / Pixabay In February, Wendy’s […]

You want faster productivity growth? Then run a high-pressure economy: An interview with Josh Bivens

You want faster productivity growth? Then run a high-pressure economy: An interview with Josh Bivens

(Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse via Getty Images) Josh Bivens directs research at the Economic Policy Institute, is a great economist, an old friend, and the author of an excellent new paper I wanted folks to know about. Here he is, answering a bunch of my questions about his new work.

Q: Tell us about the slowdown in productivity growth and why it’s so important?

A: Productivity is a measure of how much income (or output) is generated in an average hour of work in the U.S. economy. Over the long-run, the only way economies can generate higher standards of […]

How inevitable is the AI takeover of jobs? And where does UBI fit in?

How inevitable is the AI takeover of jobs? And where does UBI fit in?

KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE — Inside a giant warehouse that’s bigger than 4 football fields put together, humans unpack boxes from containers before shuttling them onto a series of robotized conveyor belts. The low rhythmic grunts of people working alongside the hum of machines fill this massive space. It’s just another day at Red Stag Fulfilment , a logistics company that specializes in ecommerce fulfillment and employs around 60 full-time and contract workers who inventory and ship everything imaginable to locations around the USA and worldwide.

In 2027, the idea of humans working alongside intelligent machines might seem like a quaint, even […]

How AI Can Prove Workers’ Best Defense In The Race Against Automation

How AI Can Prove Workers' Best Defense In The Race Against Automation

United Technology’s announcement last November that its Carrier Corp. plant would keep jobs in Indiana rather than move them to Mexico was heralded as a significant victory for American workers. However, the true impact of the deal was hidden below the headlines. United Technologies CEO, Greg Hayes, said the company will invest $16M “to…automate to drive the cost down so that we can continue to be competitive… ultimately…there will be fewer jobs ."

Carrier’s plans underscore a harsh reality: most American jobs aren’t going to Mexico, China or another foreign country, they’re being automated. The workers left behind often struggle […]

Beyond Trump: the hidden threat robots pose to the Mexican economy

Beyond Trump: the hidden threat robots pose to the Mexican economy

Maquila workers in Ciudad Juárez. CHRISTIAN PALMA A similar scene is taking place in the border town of Ciudad Juárez, the heart of Mexico’s low-cost processing and assembly plants located in duty-free zones and known popularly as maquilas . In this labor-intensive sector, robots have also started to take over production processes that until recently required manpower.

Automation poses one of the biggest threats to jobs in the 21 st century. But the Mexican case is particularly painful because of its growth model, in which competitive wages play a key role.

This makes the rise of automation technology every bit as […]

The robots are coming – but not for me

The robots are coming – but not for me

How to tango with a robot

We’re all familiar with the predictions: a new wave of bots, AI, and automated technologies are coming. They will sweep into widespread use and when they strike, the upheaval and disruption will displace millions of human workers from their jobs.

Study after study predicts this, some with very alarming figures. Research from Oxford University and Deloitte states that 35% of UK jobs are at risk of being lost to automation within the next two decades. And according to many experts, the future of the common man under the fourth industrial revolution looks bleak. As […]

Automation will kill millions of Canadian jobs, says U of T prof

Automation will kill millions of Canadian jobs, says U of T prof

As technological innovation continues to automate the modern workforce, Canadians can expect big changes to the job sector of the near future.

Computer automation, robotics and artificial intelligence will take over more tasks, replacing human labour in the process. Yet above and beyond replacement, technology is set to make many jobs fully obsolete, says Dave Ticoll of the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, and Canada needs to start preparing for the change, one which will impact an estimated 30 to 40 per cent of the current labour force.

Forecasting the demise of the labourer is as old as […]

Fixing US corporate taxes with a heavy dose of American jobs

Fixing US corporate taxes with a heavy dose of American jobs

Photo: Kurtis Garbutt via Flickr A common bipartisan refrain in Washington these days is that the US corporate tax system is broken. However, Republicans and Democrats can’t seem to agree on how to fix it.

Scott A. Shay , the chairman and co-founder of Signature Bank – a Wall Street Bank that serves the needs of privately owned business clients – has a unique and compelling idea for getting the US out of this tax morass.

Shay notes that none of the proposals to overhaul corporate taxes addresses the two major problems facing Americans and their economy — offshoring and […]

The Social Machine

The Social Machine

Ford cars roll off the assembly line in Flat Rock, Mich., in 2015. (Reuters photo: Rebecca Cook) Jobs are a means, not an end.

Funny thing about American manufacturing: The good news about what’s happening at American factories often sounds like bad news to politicians.

American factories are one of the wonders of the world, and, in spite of what President Donald Trump, Senator Bernie Sanders, and other lightly informed populists claim, they are humming. U.S. manufacturing output is about 68 percent higher today in real terms (meaning inflation-adjusted terms) than it was before NAFTA was enacted; manufacturing output […]

Experts debate technology’s impact on job losses

Experts debate technology's impact on job losses

The question seems obvious based on what we read, see and hear almost daily in modern pop culture.

However, according to James Bessen, a law professor at Boston University, that assumption may not be correct.

“I look at detailed occupations since 1980 to explore whether computers are related to job losses or other sources of wage inequality,” Bessen writes in the abstract of his paper. “Occupations that use computers grow faster, not slower. This is true even for highly routine and mid-wage occupations. Estimates reject computer automation as a source of significant overall job losses.”People are confusing automating a task with […]