Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Trump’s actions “reflect the corruption of the US political system”

Trump’s actions “reflect the corruption of the US political system”

Donald Trump’s first official trip abroad to Saudi Arabia, Israel, Belgium and Italy left many politicians in Europe feeling helpless. German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel says the West has become smaller. Are we entering a new era of transatlantic relations?

We are definitely in a new era, although the US has been less of a reliable partner for years now. It invaded Iraq in 2003. It created, together with the UK and France, the war in Libya in 2011. Along with Saudi Arabia, it began contributing to the destabilisation of Syria in 2011. It’s the country that triggered the 2008 […]

Richard Kyte: Value of work is more than a paycheck

Richard Kyte: Value of work is more than a paycheck

One day I asked my dad why he never used rollers for painting houses. Whenever he painted large flat surfaces — interior walls, ceilings, exterior siding — he used heavy 6-inch brushes. His forearms were like Popeye the Sailor’s. Richard Kyte “I’m a professional,” he answered. “Rollers are for do-it-yourselfers.”

He took pride in his work, and he respected the work of other professionals.

If a tail light went out in the family car, he would have me take the car down to Riewer’s service station to have the bulb replaced. Once I offered to do it. “No,” he said, “take […]

A techno-optimist take on automation and jobs

Reason writer Ronald Bailey outlines a strong case that fears about technological unemployment are overblown. For instance: He adds needed context to the recent finding by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu and Boston University economist Pascual Restrepo that each additional industrial robot in the United States results in 5.6 American workers losing their jobs.

But even taking the high-end estimate, job loss due to robots was has been just 670,000 since 1990 while “last year some 62.5 million Americans were hired in new jobs, while 60.1 million either quit or were laid off from old ones, according the Bureau of Labor […]

A techno-optimist take on automation and jobs

Reason writer Ronald Bailey outlines a strong case that fears about technological unemployment are overblown. For instance: He adds needed context to the recent finding by MIT economist Daron Acemoglu and Boston University economist Pascual Restrepo that each additional industrial robot in the United States results in 5.6 American workers losing their jobs.

But even taking the high-end estimate, job loss due to robots was has been just 670,000 since 1990 while “last year some 62.5 million Americans were hired in new jobs, while 60.1 million either quit or were laid off from old ones, according the Bureau of Labor […]

Canadian Cities And Industries Most At Risk From Automation

Canadian Cities And Industries Most At Risk From Automation

About 46 per cent of the work done in Canada is at risk of being taken by machines, according to a report that seeks to identify the industries and places across the country that are most vulnerable to automation.

The report from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship doesn’t argue that automation is a bad thing.

“In the long run, technology has often helped to produce more jobs than it destroyed,” researchers Creig Lamb and Matthew Lo wrote. Jobs in food services and accommodation are at greatest risk of automation in Canada, with 69 per cent of the work done […]

Consumer expectations drive Nike, Adidas’ automation in fashion

Dive Brief:

Roughly 20% of production for Nike and Adidas AG shoes will happen within automated factories by 2023 according to Morgan Stanley forecasts, driven in part by the "wear it now" mentality of modern e-commerce shoppers, Market Watch reported .

Lead times in future supply chains will drop by 66% or more, making products available faster and reducing Amazon’s e-commerce footprint. The athletic wear industry is forecast to expand to $355 billion from $290 billion, stealing market share from more traditional areas of apparel. Dive Insight: The overseas jobs that most welcome future automation currently are rote, menial […]

The continent enters the Robot Age

The continent enters the Robot Age

The future’s now: The shop floor robot has arms that are changed for different functions. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G) Science fiction writers predicted robots. They didn’t predict that they would look so boring. At the Africa Automation Fair in Johannesburg this week, there were no cyborgs on display, or R2D2-lookalikes scuttling between the stands. Instead, some of the most powerful machines were little more than black boxes with small screens and glowing lights, connected to a thicket of wires.

“Now you can control your factory from your phone. You don’t even need to be there,” said Unitronics salesman Dewald Potgieter.

He sells […]

Mitigating the Effects of Automation on the Workforce

Mitigating the Effects of Automation on the Workforce

There’s no doubt that robotics and automation are changing the way businesses operate and impacting workplaces and job descriptions in myriad ways. Given the ability of automation to reduce costs, improve quality as well as output all at the same time, its adoption is set only to increase. In fact, the adoption of automation replacing jobs is predicted to gain momentum in 2017, with twice as many employers (at 31%) embracing automation compared to 2016 (at 15%). Will its growth affect employment and will the growth in productivity come at the cost of workers and their jobs? This is […]

Mindless mining

Mindless mining

Rio Tinto has a special relationship with the University of Sydney. The multinational mining corporation is one of the world’s largest, generating US $34 billion of revenue in 2016. In 2007, Rio Tinto partnered with the University to undertake a joint research project, the Rio Tinto Centre for Mine Automation (RTCMA), which sits under the University’s Australian Centre for Field Robotics. RTCMA was charged with creating Rio Tinto’s ‘Mine of the Future’, which involves automating all aspects of a mine’s operation.

The project was established as a 12 year partnership, which means it’s nearing the end of its tenure. Over […]

Here are the Canadian towns and cities that could lose the most jobs to robots

Here are the Canadian towns and cities that could lose the most jobs to robots

These jobs are safe from robots, according to one economist Small-town Canada is where computers and robots will likely take up the largest proportion of work currently carried out by human beings, a new report finds.

Some 40 per cent of Canada’s work activities could become obsolete because of automation, but some communities are much more vulnerable than others, according to the Toronto-based Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship (BII+E).

READ MORE: These are the jobs that are safe from the robot workplace invasion Smaller centres that are highly dependent on manufacturing, mining and agriculture and forestry will likely suffer […]