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Millions of ASEAN jobs vulnerable to automation, says International Labour Organization

HR and accounting among the sectors at risk as business process outsourcing gets overtaken by technology

Disruptive technology will put millions of jobs at risk of automation over the next 20 years, a new report from the International Labour Organization predicts.

ASEAN in transformation: How technology is changing jobs and enterprises , suggests that business process outsourcing (BPO), which currently provides employment around one million people in the Philippines alone, is one of five industries set to see big changes because of automation. Electronics, automotive and auto parts, textiles and retail face similar disruption.BPO involves contracting out specific business […]

1.8 million American truck drivers could lose their jobs to robots. What then?

1.8 million American truck drivers could lose their jobs to robots. What then?

(Otto) So far, discussion of self-driving cars has mostly confined itself to tech geeks and urbanists. But if they live up to their promise, autonomous vehicles could have seismic effects on America’s economy and culture. It’s probably time for a wider circle of participants, including economists, politicians, and social scientists, to start grappling seriously with what’s coming.

Let’s take just one example: long-haul trucking. Millions of Americans drive trucks for a living

Freight trucks (semis, 18-wheelers, tractor trailers, what have you) are so ubiquitous on US highways that we scarcely give them any thought. But they are a big piece […]

A turning point in labour history

A turning point in labour history

The latest wave of automation heralds new transformations for society, but how can we ensure that nobody is left stranded? "The so-called sharing economy and the new wave of automation are appearing to rewrite the old rules." Cab drivers protest against Uber in Lisbon, 2016. Flickr/Stròlic Furlàn – Davide Gabino Follow. Some rights reserved. Several profound transformations are taking place in the world of labour at the same time. Aspects of a so-called sharing economy and the new wave of automation are appearing to rewrite old rules. The long-term consequences of this turning point depend on the policies adopted […]

Whatever Happened to Jobs? Automation, immigration, and joblessness

Keywords: jobs, immigration, automation, unemployment

President Obama, the Senate, and House Democrats wish to “fix” our “broken immigration system” by doubling legal immigration. Not content with that, and casting aside the rule of law, they wish to reward 11 to 20 million illegal aliens with legal status and, moreover, provide these miscreants with a “pathway to citizenship”—our most precious possession. A good idea?

Between 1916 and 1965—fifty years—immigration averaged just 218,000 per year. Since then the annual take has risen gradually to over a million per year, a growth unabated during the Great Recession and indolent recovery. Some blame our sluggish […]

When machines replace jobs, the net result is normally more new jobs

When machines replace jobs, the net result is normally more new jobs

Two of the current leading researchers in labor economics studying the impact of machines and automation on jobs have released a new National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper, The Race Between Machine and Man: Implications of Technology for Growth, Factor Shares and Employment .

The authors, Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo are far from the robot-supporting equivalent of Statler and Waldorf , the Muppets who heckle from the balcony, unless you consider their heckling is about how so many have overstated the argument of robots taking all the jobs without factual support: Similar claims have been made, but […]

Automation Axing IT Jobs Is Worrying Sign

Automation Axing IT Jobs Is Worrying Sign

The increasing adoption of automation among enterprises is posing a serious threat to the jobs. According to Nasscom, the IT industry is expected to recruit 20 percent less this year and his fall is primarily due to automation. Industry experts have voiced concerns over the probable job loss due to automated technologies demanding holistic approach in recruitment policies of enterprises.

TV Mohandas Pai, the former Infosys HR head, has predicted that automation will displace 10 percent of incremental jobs. “I think in the IT sector, may be 10 percent minimum of incremental jobs that are created will disappear. That means […]

Are you ready for the jobs of the future?

Are you ready for the jobs of the future?

The flow of reports about the impact of automation, mostly dire , continues. The latest is from StartupAUS , Australia’s national startup advocacy group.

This report follows the now familiar line captured in the phrase “exponential technologies”: exponential improvements in computer power and advances in technology such as artificial intelligence, robotics, big data, cloud computing and the internet of things will have a profound impact on future employment, with almost 5 million current jobs (that is 40% of the workforce) in Australia becoming obsolete by 2030.

This follows in the footsteps of a detailed CEDA report in 2015, which conducted the […]

Automation Axing IT Jobs Is Worrying Sign

Automation Axing IT Jobs Is Worrying Sign

The increasing adoption of automation among enterprises is posing a serious threat to the jobs. According to Nasscom, the IT industry is expected to recruit 20 percent less this year and his fall is primarily due to automation. Industry experts have voiced concerns over the probable job loss due to automated technologies demanding holistic approach in recruitment policies of enterprises.

TV Mohandas Pai, the former Infosys HR head, has predicted that automation will displace 10 percent of incremental jobs. “I think in the IT sector, may be 10 percent minimum of incremental jobs that are created will disappear. That means […]

Free trade, automation among challenges for manufacturers

Free trade, automation among challenges for manufacturers

Fox Weaver FILE photo David Oaks fabricates a yoke for a drive shaft for Proton Power Inc. in 2014. Company president Dr. Sam Weaver said Proton Power is adding both automation and employees. Every manufacturer has its own challenges, but there are some that many share.

Free trade, automation and cyber security are a few.

"In our case, I would say a potential looming issue is this debate over free trade," said Dr. Sam Weaver, president and co-founder of Proton Power Inc., a company in Lenoir City and Rockwood that uses biomass to make inexpensive hydrogen and converts it to energy […]

Will Automation Take Our Jobs?

Will Automation Take Our Jobs?

Last fall economist Carl Benedikt Frey and information engineer Michael A. Osborne, both at the University of Oxford, published a study estimating the probability that 702 occupations would soon be computerized out of existence. Their findings were startling. Advances in data mining, machine vision, artificial intelligence and other technologies could, they argued, put 47 percent of American jobs at high risk of being automated in the years ahead. Loan officers, tax preparers, cashiers, locomotive engineers, paralegals, roofers, taxi drivers and even animal breeders are all in danger of going the way of the switchboard operator.

Whether or not you buy […]