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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 […]

Unconditional Basic Income becomes a leading policy idea

Unconditional Basic Income becomes a leading policy idea

The Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) will become a mainstream policy idea in 2017, with particular relevance for developing countries.

With increased trends in automation and the “gig economy” pointing to labour market disruption and uncertainty, the UBI looks increasingly probable. This once-heretical idea of giving all citizens a baseline income that is enough to live on, without requiring anything in return, has acquired sharp relevance – there is a real prospect that a large section of the US’s working population could lose their jobs nearly overnight with the advent of driverless trucks . Advocates point out that a UBI could […]

The economist behind Universal Basic Income: Give all citizens free money to help combat a ‘neofascist wave of populism’

The economist behind Universal Basic Income: Give all citizens free money to help combat a 'neofascist wave of populism'

Professor Guy Standing Professor Guy Standing Wikimedia Commons In 2011 Guy Standing, then an economist at the University of Bath, prefaced his new book with a warning.

He described a growing class of "precariat" workers, alienated by a western political agenda which had, since the 1970s, promoted market-led competition above job security. Real wages across the west had stalled for decades and "flexible" work was becoming the norm, leaving many millions around the world "without an anchor of stability."

This precariat, he said, "are prone to listen to ugly voices, and to use their votes and money to give those voices […]

Finland’s basic income experiment begins: one man looks forward to a new start

Finland's basic income experiment begins: one man looks forward to a new start

Juha Järvinen with three of his six children. Juha Järvinen, from the western Finnish city of Kurikka, felt like a lucky man in late 2016, when he learned he was one of the 2,000 unemployed selected to take part in a nationwide basic income experiment.

“When I saw the letter from Kela in the mailbox, I was like ’Yes!’”, he says.

Finland’s basic income trial is being run by the state-owned benefits administrator Kela. The 2,000 participants were selected from the ranks of existing labour market subsidy and unemployment benefit recipients. According to Statistics Finland’s Labour Force Survey, there were 213,000 […]

Finland and universal basic income

Finland and universal basic income

Photo: AFP A joint study conducted by Oxford University and the Oxford Martin school says 47% of the jobs in the US are at risk of being automated within the next 20 years. In interviews during the latter half of 2016, President Barack Obama was quizzed on the concept of Universal Basic Income (UBI). He responded by saying that the concept of UBI is one that will be debated for decades to come as computer systems get ever more efficient, thereby causing job losses all over the world. He did not shy away from the fact that it will […]

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 […]

Finland Has Finally Launched Its Universal Basic Income Experiment

Finland Has Finally Launched Its Universal Basic Income Experiment

NEW YEAR, NEW INCOME

It looks like 2,000 citizens in Finland will welcome the new year with outstretched arms. These Finns are the lucky recipients of a guaranteed income beginning this year, as the country’s government finally rolls out its universal basic income (UBI) trial run. UBI is a potential source of income that could one day be available to all adult citizens, regardless of income, wealth, or employment status.

This pioneering UBI program was launched by the federal social security institution, Kela . It will give out €560 ($587) a month, tax free, to 2,000 Finns that were randomly […]

How Finland could see benefits from its basic income experiment

How Finland could see benefits from its basic income experiment

One of the greatest political challenges in the 21st century is coming up with a welfare system which is both effective and fair. Recipients and non-recipients of benefits payments are both quick to point out apparent deficiencies in the status quo – as well as problems with any potential alternatives. But some countries are clearly ready for change.

As of January 1 2017, Finland became the first European country to implement a plan whereby unemployed citizens receive a basic monthly income. Created by the government agency responsible for Finnish social security benefits ( KELA ), it will be run as […]

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 […]