Category: Automation Impact on Jobs

Sorry, Trump voters: Those factory jobs aren’t coming back — because they don’t exist anymore

Sorry, Trump voters: Those factory jobs aren’t coming back — because they don’t exist anymore

(Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson/shutterstock/Salon) When Donald Trump moves into the White House later this month, there will be great expectations resting on his ability to make good on one of the central planks of his campaign: Restoring America’s industrial glory days and “bringing back” jobs. In areas that have been hit particularly hard by deindustrialization, like the Rust Belt — which ultimately gave the election to Trump — working-class swing voters will be anxiously waiting for the president to “make America great again,” which to them means bringing back decent paying jobs along with some stability.

Unfortunately for America’s struggling working […]

Robots will destroy our jobs – and we’re not ready for it

The McDonald’s on the corner of Third Avenue and 58th Street in New York City doesn’t look all that different from any of the fast-food chain’s other locations across the country. Inside, however, hungry patrons are welcomed not by a cashier waiting to take their order, but by a “Create Your Taste” kiosk – an automated touch-screen system that allows customers to create their own burgers without interacting with another human being.

It’s impossible to say exactly how many jobs have been lost by the deployment of the automated kiosks – McDonald’s has been predictably reluctant to release numbers – […]

Trump’s push for jobs should not be at the cost of killing jobs in developing countries

The US’ effort to create more jobs at home should not be done at the cost of killing jobs in developing countries such as China and Mexico. Taking back manufacturing jobs from developing countries will not improve US employment but instead will harm the growth of developing nations and backfire on its own economy. The US should work with China and Mexico to create opportunities that are reciprocal, otherwise the US’ global leadership will wobble.

On Monday, Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma Yun met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss a plan to attract 1 million small US businesses to […]

Automation + Jobs: Not a Zero-Sum Equation

Automation + Jobs: Not a Zero-Sum Equation

There’s been no shortage of hand wringing over the job costs of automation—and it’s not without cause. Automated devices are increasingly replacing people in all sorts of occupations. Just as a long list of other technologies have done before. Because dramatic workplace transformations do not occur often, it’s easy to see such shifts as zero-sum occurrences and overlook the new options presented as the familiar ones fade away.

The last time such a major shift took place was during the transition from an agricultural-based economy to an industrial-based economy. And though the tractor and other automated farm equipment did put […]

Coping with AI revolution

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the artificial intelligence revolution will eliminate 3.5 million simple jobs.

U.S. online commerce player Amazon has recently opened a grocery store where customers can walk in and grab what they need and leave without having to go through a checkout line. Customers simply tap their smartphones at the turnstile as they walk into an Amazon Go store that logs them into the store’s network and connects to their Amazon account through an app.

Korean retailer Lotte Department Store also has employed a similar payment system in an outlet in Bundang on the outskirts […]

Manufacturing, Automation, Jobs, and the Future

Manufacturing, Automation, Jobs, and the Future

A conservative financial/economics newsletter I read pointed me to this article.

Some highlights:

The U.S. has lost 5 million factory jobs since 2000. And trade has indeed claimed production jobs – in particular when China joined the World Trade Organization in 2001. Nevertheless, there was no downturn in U.S. manufacturing output. As a matter of fact, U.S. production has been growing over the last decades. From 2006 to 2013, “manufacturing grew by 17.6%, or at roughly 2.2% per year While it has been easy to blame China or Mexico for job losses the truth […]

Prominent Scientists Attribute Job Loss To Automation, Not Foreigners

Prominent Scientists Attribute Job Loss To Automation, Not Foreigners

Stephen Hawking.Lwp Kommunikáció/Flickr For decades, it was practically considered conventional wisdom that foreigners are the cause for so many jobs lost in industrialized countries. It didn’t matter if it was jobs getting shipped overseas or foreigners migrating to developed nations, it was their fault that employment was being taken away. However, this might not be the entire story as even prominent scientists are now saying that automation might play a bigger role in job loss than anything else.

Famed physicist Stephen Hawking wrote an op-ed recently for The Guardian about the current and future dangers facing the planet. Among the […]

50% of All American Jobs Will Be Gone in 10 Years- What Will Follow?

50% of All American Jobs Will Be Gone in 10 Years- What Will Follow?

If the economy is doing so fine, then why are so many retail giants going out of business?

The old way of doing things is no longer profitable. Humans cost to much money to maintain in the work force. The need and means for automation to replace many/most workers is upon us. What will be the societal implications resulting from this unavoidable development? The Christmas Shopping Season Was a Disaster of Epic Proportions

The Christmas shopping season concluded over two weeks ago and retail report cards are coming and they are beyond bleak. There is currently a plethora of retail […]

How college students can make better career choices

How college students can make better career choices

Over the holiday break, we pondered the usual thorny questions with our daughter, who’s in her second year of college.

What summer job should she find that can offer her the right experience for promising future employment? What courses does she need to take to position herself for a good job after she graduates? What kinds of careers should she contemplate to avoid poverty?

I know millions of parents probably grappled with the same questions, yet didn’t come up with solid answers. In the face of rampant automation, outsourcing and entire industries downsizing or disappearing, our childrens’ vocational future is anything […]

Solutions needed to make India’s youth employable

Solutions needed to make India’s youth employable

With services contributing to 66.1% gross value-added growth in FY15-16 based on data from an India Brand Equity Foundation report, it’s clear that burgeoning progress is firmly entrenched in the waves of the services sector. India’s employment scenario has experienced a pendulum-like shift, from an agricultural towards a service-rich economy, corroborated with a boom in employment for sectors like IT, insurance, finance, infrastructure, retail and telecom.

With services contributing to 66.1% gross value-added growth in FY15-16 based on data from an India Brand Equity Foundation report, it’s clear that burgeoning progress is firmly entrenched in the waves of the services […]