Tag: academic

The Trade Red Herring

Trade policy is a hot button political issue, and it’s also one of the biggest distractions. It’s often said that politics makes strange bedfellows. Both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump believe that U.S. trade policy is largely to blame for the hollowing out of high paying, working class jobs. However, the data suggests otherwise.

Let me acknowledge at the outset that I have a vested economic interest in supporting free trade (I am, however, genuinely supportive of it but do recognize that there are also costs to free trade which trade policy should address). My skateboard and skate apparel business, […]

It’s Not Automation, It’s the Trade Deficit

It’s Not Automation, It’s the Trade Deficit

This kid is clearly skeptical of robots. But don’t blame them — or automation — for manufacturing job loss in the United States. | Photo by John Martin A common refrain in economic commentary on the nature of work, and the changes in manufacturing employment, is basically:

“Trade didn’t take those jobs. It was robots. The robots did it!”

Okay, maybe it’s not the terminators who are doing it. Rather, it’s industrial automation: We make more stuff with less people, because manufacturing is now performed by automated processes. This idea is breezily inserted into all kinds of articles, including ones with […]

Janet Street-Porter: What happens when robots take over nurses’ jobs

Images of trolleys laden with suffering people in corridors, old people hooked up to drips on beds in cupboards — not pictures emerging from Syria, but the latest crisis to hit the NHS.

Waiting times in A&E are unacceptable, with hospitals operating at full capacity; dozens of beds are occupied by people who have nowhere else to go.

When even the Health Secretary — the normally unflappable Mr Positive, Jeremy Hunt — admits things are problematic, it’s probably not the best time to publish a report claiming that robots could take over nurses’ jobs.According to experts at the independent think tank […]

Robots can’t solve the crisis in the NHS – we still need workers with empathy

Robots can't solve the crisis in the NHS – we still need workers with empathy

Nurses on the frontline of the health service have empathy with patients. Could ‘chatbots’ really replace them? Images of trolleys laden with suffering people in corridors, old people hooked up to drips on beds in cupboards – not pictures emerging from Syria, but the latest crisis to hit the NHS .

Waiting times in A&E are unacceptable, with hospitals operating at full capacity; dozens of beds are occupied by people who have nowhere else to go. When even the Health Minister – the normally unflappable Mr Positive, Jeremy Hunt – admits things are problematic, it’s probably not the best time […]

Economic advisory council delivers Bill Morneau an odd report: Walkom

Hamilton Spectator

The latest report from Ottawa’s Advisory Council on Economic Growth is an odd document. It foresees a world in which almost half of Canadians will have lost their jobs to automation. Yet it spends much effort trying to figure out how to encourage more workers to compete for this diminishing number of jobs.

Like the council’s first report in October, this one walks a fine line between market economics and activist government.It wants private capitalists to lead the way but it also wants government to both guide and backstop their efforts.In that sense it hearkens back to the Asian […]

Who will work? Education, automation and jobs

Who will work? Education, automation and jobs

Automated wing-drilling machines do most of the work in an Airbus A350 plant. Photo: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images Robots — artificial intelligence technology — will take up to 47 percent of U.S. jobs in the next few decades, predicts a White House report released last month. The least educated will be the most vulnerable: Self-driving vehicles are expected to replace 2.2 million to 3.1 million people with driving jobs. Investing in education could keep the American Dream alive , writes Drew Hanson in Forbes . Retraining displaced workers isn’t enough. he writes. “We must improve secondary education” and create multiple […]

Hey, robot, leave my job alone

Hey, robot, leave my job alone

Job insecurity and technology have created a ‘crisis of meaning’ in today’s workplace

Academics believe there will be massive job losses as automation takes over more and more human roles. Photograph: Getty Images Bankers don’t attract much sympathy these days, but imagine belonging to an industry that has been blamed for eight years of austerity and for triggering political turmoil on a worldwide scale.

Imagine further you’re an ordinary bank teller who has seen your traditional responsibilities taken over by machines: ATMs, online portals and phone apps. Now imagine that your sector will lose another 30 per cent of […]

Job-stealing robots — a growing concern

Over the last decade open markets and global trade have been blamed for job losses in the developed world. But the global Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) say the real culprits are increasingly the machines that are being increasingly introduced to the industries. And while business leaders gathered at the annual World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland relishing the productivity gains that technology can bring, they also warned that the collateral damage to jobs needs to be addressed more seriously. From taxi drivers to healthcare professionals, technologies such as robotics, driverless cars, artificial intelligence and 3-D printing mean more […]

Tech Tent: Winners and losers in the ‘gig’ economy

Tech Tent: Winners and losers in the 'gig' economy

Stream the latest Tech Tent episode on the BBC website On this week’s Tech Tent we address one of the key questions of the era – what is new technology doing to jobs? We also look at the hunt for better batteries and find out about the latest technology in the toy industry. No, Uber isn’t wiping out taxi drivers

"Does the expansion of the ‘sharing economy’ spell the end of traditional jobs?" That’s the unusually catchy introduction for an academic paper on the effect of Uber on jobs and wages. Protests from established taxi drivers have greeted Uber’s […]

Is automation really kicking goals?

Is automation really kicking goals?

Anyone fearful of robots taking over from humans to the point of causing mass unemployment should watch a game of Robosoccer .

There are quite a few international competitions where robots compete in roles usually filled by humans, such as various Robosoccer leagues, the Robocup Robot Rescue League , a national robotics competition in Malaysia and the World Robot Olympiad.

These are mostly for high school students and university AI (artificial intelligence) students exploring their fields rather than major companies using commercial robots and the focus is on improving robot skills.But they do point to the difficulties any future wave […]