Tag: consumer

Tech Guru Breaks From The Pack, Says Automation Will Create MORE Jobs

Tech Guru Breaks From The Pack, Says Automation Will Create MORE Jobs

By Eric Lieberman

Tech guru and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said Tuesday that automation, like the technology embedded in self-driving cars, will not take away available jobs but will actually create more.

“It’s a Luddite fallacy. It’s a recurring panic,” Andreessen said during a conference hosted by Recode, specifically referring to the oft-professed concern that automation is bad for the country and the world. “This happens every 25 or 50 years — people get all amped up about ‘machines are going to take all the jobs’ and it never happens.”Andreessen used particular historical references to help corroborate his contentions.People, especially horse […]

On Mark Zuckerberg and the merits of univeral basic income

Here is what Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg told graduating Harvard students about jobs, technology, and “a new social contract” (via Business Insider ): You’re graduating at a time when this is especially important. When our parents graduated, purpose reliably came from your job, your church, your community. But today, technology and automation are eliminating many jobs. … Our generation will have to deal with tens of millions of jobs replaced by automation like self-driving cars and trucks. … Every generation expands its definition of equality. Previous generations fought for the vote and civil rights. They had the New Deal […]

News from EPI No evidence that automation leads to joblessness or inequality

In The zombie robot argument lurches on , EPI President Lawrence Mishel and Research Director Josh Bivens challenge the popular media narrative that the pace of automation is increasing, and that it will lead to overall joblessness and greater inequality.

Automation—the implementation of new technologies as capital equipment or software replace human labor in the workplace—has been ongoing for decades, and there is no evidence that this has led to greater joblessness or increasing unemployment, even though certain jobs were lost. Simply put, if automation necessarily led to higher unemployment, the United States would have experienced an ever-rising unemployment rate […]

The biggest problem with robots taking jobs may not be unemployment—yet

The biggest problem with robots taking jobs may not be unemployment—yet

An industrial robot welds a car together. Source: AP Automation is changing the economy and workforce – and significantly. Due to robots, computers and better technology, it takes far fewer workers to get the same amount of economic output.

The data are clear: Manufacturing output in the US has never been higher , and yet the number of people employed in that sector has fallen dramatically since 2000. Similarly, retail sales have skyrocketed thanks to Amazon and other e-commerce companies while retail employment stagnates and store closings ramp up.

And more is likely to come: Self-driving cars no longer live in […]

COMMENT: ‘Could the rise of robots see them replace jobs such as taxi drivers and doctors?

COMMENT: 'Could the rise of robots see them replace jobs such as taxi drivers and doctors?

"The increasing use of robots can be a blessing" David Williamson, Professor of Regulation and Governance at Staffordshire University’s Business School, discusses the effect ‘robots’ could have on employment opportunities

Please Mr Robot, can I have a job?

If the projections are correct the effect of automation on jobs, brought about by advances in artificial intelligence, will be enormous. In Scotland, for example, it is estimated that 46 per cent of jobs will be lost to automation by 2030.Estimates for the U.S. suggest that six per cent of jobs will be lost in four years, with over 50 per cent by […]

HALF of American retail workers could be replaced by robots, chilling new study finds

HALF of American retail workers could be replaced by robots, chilling new study finds

Nearly half of Americans working in retail are at risk of losing their job to a robot, a new study has revealed.

An analysis has found up to 7.5 million jobs that deal with merchandise are set to be automated over the next decade.

The researchers discovered that those who work as cashiers have the highest risk of being replaced – and 73 percent of those positions are held by women.Scroll down for video An analysis has found up to 7.5 million jobs that deal with merchandise are set to be automated over the next decade– leaving behind a large portion […]

NONFICTION | Software developer argues robots will impact economy

Bob Funk
Contributing writer

For those who worry about the future for their loved ones, and others in general, add another dire prediction to the menu of impending disasters looming over the horizon.
In addition to global warming and natural resource depletion, a crushing national debt, and an arc of political, economic, and social instability across Africa and the Middle East and its causal relationship to global terrorism, now add the rise of robots.Anyone concerned with the future of employment and work should read “The Rise of Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future,” written by Martin Ford, a […]

Automation Technology Will Put 6 To 7.5 Million Jobs In Peril

Automation Technology Will Put 6 To 7.5 Million Jobs In Peril

Technological unemployment is already affecting the prodigious sectors that contribute majorly to the economy. By now, we know that automation can lead to temporary and permanent unemployment in predominantly profitable sectors. The most significant aspect of automation technology powering every industry is due to precise and efficient output. A recent study notes that 4 out of 10 jobs globally would be lost by 2021 due to the growing adoption of automation in every sector. Automation technology and robots already cost millions of jobs in every economy, and Cornerstone capital survey says that this is not just it.

According to a […]

Why Robots Won’t Be Coming for All Our Jobs

Why Robots Won’t Be Coming for All Our Jobs

I’ve had robots on my mind recently, and not in a “Wow, robots will make my life so much easier!” kind of way. More like, “Aaagh! Robots are coming to take the jobs of people in their 50s and 60s!”

The alarm bells rang furiously at a Milken Institute Global Conference panel I recently saw in Los Angeles (“I, Worker: Employment in the Age of Robots). And I just received a new book with the foreboding title, The Robots Are Coming , by John Pugliano, founder and money manager of Investable Wealth.

You may have heard some of the dire forecasts […]

Why being a specialty butcher is a hot job right now

Why being a specialty butcher is a hot job right now

Craft beer makers. “Mixologist” bartenders who have far more up their sleeves than a gin and tonic. Barbers who hark back to a bygone era of style. Butchers who slice and dice their way through entire animals, with a modern focus on sourcing and sustainability. Are these the types of jobs—in fields that have been around for decades, but which have lately taken on a more specialized, artisanal focus—that can power the economy in the coming years?

Richard Ocejo may not quite go that far, but the trend epitomized by those jobs is major and unavoidable, in his eyes. Ocejo […]