Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Working in the future: how humans need to adapt

Working in the future: how humans need to adapt

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th Century, machines have been taking over from human workers.
They are cheaper to run and produce more, but will robots end up doing all our work in the future, and what will be our role be in society?
The shift to automation brought mass production and a rise in global demand, but also anxiety over job losses – and those fears still exist today.
Experts believe the latest cyber-physical systems and the “Internet of things” demonstrate how we are now in the fourth phase of the Industrial Revolution, […]

Wow.. automation destroys jobs. Who knew?

Who is winning the race for jobs between robots and humans? Last year, two leading economists described a future in which humans come out ahead. But now they’ve declared a different winner: the robots. From a report on the New York Times:
The industry most affected by automation is manufacturing. For every robot per thousand workers, up to six workers lost their jobs and wages fell by as much as three-fourths of a percent, according to a new paper by the economists, Daron Acemoglu of M.I.T. and Pascual Restrepo of Boston University. It appears to be the first study […]

Evidence That Robots Are Winning the Race for American Jobs

Evidence That Robots Are Winning the Race for American Jobs

Who is winning the race for jobs between robots and humans? Last year, two leading economists described a future in which humans come out ahead. But now they’ve declared a different winner: the robots.

The industry most affected by automation is manufacturing. For every robot per thousand workers, up to six workers lost their jobs and wages fell by as much as three-fourths of a percent, according to a new paper by the economists, Daron Acemoglu of M.I.T. and Pascual Restrepo of Boston University. It appears to be the first study to quantify large, direct, negative effects of robots.

The paper […]

Study: Robots Actually Hurt Wages, Stoke Pay Inequality

Study: Robots Actually Hurt Wages, Stoke Pay Inequality

Robots weld the bodies of Porsche Macan SUVs at the new Porsche Macan factory at the Porsche plant on February 11, 2014. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Industrial robots had a significant impact on U.S. employment and wages for many local labor markets between 1990 and 2007, according to new research.

“Employment effects of robots are most pronounced in manufacturing, and in particular, in industries most exposed to robots; in routine manual, blue collar, assembly and related occupations; and for workers with less than college education,” reads the study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). “Interestingly, and perhaps […]

Compelling new evidence that robots are taking jobs and cutting wages

Compelling new evidence that robots are taking jobs and cutting wages

In his final speech as US president, Barack Obama warned of the “relentless pace of automation that makes a lot of good, middle-class jobs obsolete.” Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, has said that governments will need to tax robots to replace forgone revenue when human workers lose their jobs.

If the past is prologue, these concerns are warranted.

In a recent study (pdf), economists Daren Acemoglu of MIT and Pascual Restrepo of Boston University try to quantify how worried we should be about robots. They examine the impact of industrial automation on the US labor market from 1990 to 2007. They […]

Top 5 reality checks if you think you can’t lose your job to a robot

Top 5 reality checks if you think you can't lose your job to a robot

Inside the production facility of La Colombe coffee factory at 6366 Norton Center Dr. on Jan. 24, 2017 in Norton Shores, Mich. La Colombe started production over two weeks ago and uses local milk to produce their canned draft latte beverages. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com) (Joel Bissell) Global accounting firm PwC recently studied the potential impact of automation on jobs in the United Kingdom, comparing it to three other economies, including the United States.

The results: The U.S. could lose up to 38 percent of its jobs to technology – including artificial intelligence and robots – by the early 2030s.

Among […]

How automation could make us more human

How automation could make us more human

The robots are coming. Of that there is no doubt. But how relentless the march of automation will be—and how quickly it will transform the workplace and the workforce beyond recognition—depends on which particular report you read.

The McKinsey Global Institute recently issued a study on the subject, stating 50 percent of today’s work activities could be automated by 2055. This contrasts with research from Oxford University, which estimated in 2013 that 47 percent of US jobs were now at risk from automation. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, meanwhile, was a little less aggressive, concluding in its 2015 […]

Automation already a reality – fewer people working on processing lines

Automation already a reality - fewer people working on processing lines

Automation already a reality – fewer people working on processing lines

During a recent lecture held at Bocconi, one of FreshPlaza’s Italian editors talked about labour cost reduction in the fresh produce sector and about the technologies that can replace manual labour. She also brought the following examples of best practice:

> the processing plant at Mivor in Laces (BZ), one of the 7 cooperatives part of VI.P., the association of Val Venosta fresh produce cooperatives the revolution determined by optic graders such as those manufactured by Unitec, that can even monitor internal defects in cherries or separate stalks […]

Automation Is Here

Automation Is Here

Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence have the power to transform the workplace for all those employed, including senior management. Today everyone, especially senior leaders, must understand this challenge, stay ahead of it and create conditions to benefit from it. This is a sea change comparable to the industrial and agricultural revolutions in scope and effect. For those in the workforce, like past societal transformations, the digital/tech revolution involves disruption and displacement, and new ways and types of working.

Using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Occupational Information Network (O*Net) data, McKinsey Global Institute analyzed automation’s potential workplace effect by examining […]

How automation could make us more human

How automation could make us more human

The robots are coming. Of that there is no doubt. But how relentless the march of automation will be – and how quickly it will transform the workplace and the workforce beyond recognition – depends on which particular report you read.

The McKinsey Global Institute recently issued a study on the subject, stating 50% of today’s work activities could be automated by 2055. This contrasts with research from Oxford University, which estimated in 2013 that 47% of US jobs were now at risk from automation. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, meanwhile, was a little less aggressive, concluding in […]