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Basic Income Might Be The Answer To Society’s Productivity Crisis

Basic Income Might Be The Answer To Society's Productivity Crisis

With the decline of manufacturing jobs, and the onset of automation to take over almost all kinds of work, society is on the hunt for a long-term, scalable solution to our future productivity.

What will happen to displaced workers? How will mass unemployment hurt our increasingly globalized economy?

One concept, a universal basic income, has been debated by thinkers as far back as the 16th century . The theory suggests that a flat income, given to every citizen regardless of employment or societal status, will allow society to pursue the work it really believes in. Can a monthly universal stipend help […]

Does automation destroy jobs? It doesn’t.

The trouble with this argument is that it poses a question – Will automation affect employment in the future ? & attempts to answer it purely by looking at historical data – but that is entirely missing the point.

The central question to answer (& in all my time spent with Futurology – I’ve never even once heard anyone come up with an answer) is – in a future where AI & Robots can do most jobs, how can humans compete with then in an economy that has free market capitalism as its guiding economic principle.

In the past displaced workers […]

How computer automation affects occupations: Technology, jobs, and skills

How computer automation affects occupations: Technology, jobs, and skills

A popular notion is that computer automation leads to major job losses. However, this ignores the dynamic economic responses that involve both changing demand and inter-occupation substitution. Using US data, this column explores the effect of automation on employment growth for detailed occupational categories. Computer-using occupations have had greater job growth to date, while those using few computers suffer greater computer-related losses. The real challenge posed by automation is developing a workforce with the skills to use new technologies.

Automation has become a concern not just for blue-collar manufacturing workers, but also for white-collar workers and even professionals. New computer […]

Why the Job Market will Continue to Stink

“A few people here, a few people there. But it all adds up.”

By James Murray:

Anyone who pays any attention knows that something unusual is happening to employment. Good full time jobs are disappearing, being replaced by lower paying and part time jobs. Experts and especially politicians have explanations and excuses: Offshoring to lower labor countries, excessive rules and regulations, illegal aliens, lack of education in the workforce…. The list goes on and on.What I rarely hear: automation. When most people hear “automation,” they think “robots.” Most robots are dedicated and expensive and don’t replace that many […]

Automation: It’s All About the Workflow

10 Surprising Ways Automation Can Simplify IT

The enterprise is quickly heading into the era of workflow automation with dreams of placing all the mundane, routine tasks of running a business in the hands of intelligent software while humans get to do the fun, creative stuff.

While the effects of this on employment are hotly debated, the fact remains that the technology is quickly coming of age and the enterprise needs to prepare for it or risk losing out to automated rivals.According to Marlon Miller, director of workflow automation at Xerox Corp., the first challenge is to determine the kind […]

How to Protect Workers From Job-Stealing Robots

How to Protect Workers From Job-Stealing Robots

A robot and a human work side by side. There is a lively debate happening across various corners of the internet and the hallways of academia: In the coming decades, will advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) render human labor unnecessary?

At first blush, economic data suggest little reason to worry. American businesses in recent years have needed more and more humans: 15 million new private-sector jobs have been created since early 2010. At the same time, what economists refer to as labor productivity (economic output per human hour worked) has grown disappointingly slowly. If robots were on track to replace […]

Robots versus immigrants: which group would “steal” the most British jobs?

Robots versus immigrants: which group would “steal” the most British jobs?

Angry robots surrounded by EU stars By 2035, you’ll be lucky to have a job. According to the Bank of England’s chief economist , nearly half of all British workers will be replaced in the next two decades. But by who?

If you base all of your worldly judgements on the rants of your drunk uncle Nigel and the fact you can now get pierogi in Tesco, then the answer is easy: immigrants.

If you pay closer attention to global trends (and the self-checkout machine you use to buy your pierogi in Tesco), then the answer is very different: robots.As far […]

Automation will end the dream of rapid economic growth for poorer countries

Automation will end the dream of rapid economic growth for poorer countries

Humanoid robots working side by side with employees on an assembly line at a factory. Photograph: Issei Kato/REUTERS For a long time – at least since the economic emergence of South Korea in the 1960s – many low-income countries have been able to achieve rapid economic growth through industrialisation.

The process usually starts with low-end manufacturing (apparel, footwear, plastics) and entails large numbers of workers moving from low productivity smallholder agriculture to high productivity export manufacturing.

Industrialisation has helped to drive an unprecedented convergence between rich and poor country wealth levels. By the early 2000s, 83 developing countries were achieving growth […]

Will IoT and robotics mean less work for farmers?

Will IoT and robotics mean less work for farmers?

Decline in unskilled workers may be offset by technology-centric roles.

Will the Internet of Things and robotics lead to a reduction in agriculture jobs in the future? According to a panel of industry experts, the goal of these emerging technologies is not to replace a human workforce, but to augment it.

The experts shared their thoughts at the recent IoT and AgTech Summit in Sydney, co-hosted by KPMG and the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce (AICC).“Our aim with technologies such as robotics is not to replace the farmers themselves, but to make them more productive, give them decision support tools for […]

India Witnesses Major Job Cuts Despite Having Fastest Growing Economy

India Witnesses Major Job Cuts Despite Having Fastest Growing Economy

Indian flag #WorkersStrikeBack: 180 Million Indian Workers Strike for Higher Minimum Wage (PHOTO) New Delhi — Despite claiming to be one of the fastest growing nations in the world, every day 389 people are losing their jobs in India. According to a study conducted by ASSOCHAM-Thought Arbitrage, around 70,000 workers were let go in the second quarter of 2015.

Livelihood opportunities in export units particularly shrank during this period. While the slowdown in global demand compelled some employers to conduct layoffs, the reduction was facilitated by the increasing contextualization of jobs as well as automation in some sectors.

“….There is a […]