Tag: consumer

The Supposedly Looming Spectre of Automation in the Service Industries

Automation is an interesting outlier within the modern canon of political topics of discussion. Views aren’t split down the usual left-right divide; instead, opinions tend to diverge along free market–protectionist lines. Fellow travelers on the same side of the political aisle, like conservatives Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson, can be divided on automation. When asked on Shapiro’s Sunday Special whether he would restrict automated trucks to save truckers’ jobs, Carlson said he would, “in a second.” Carlson clearly cares about working-class people and doesn’t want to see their employment under threat.

But it isn’t. At least, not in the customer […]

We need a big bet on technology literacy and education to move America forward

We need a big bet on technology literacy and education to move America forward

Will technology take over our jobs, destabilize our society and democracy? Or can we leverage technology to amplify human purpose and potential?

Technology has created a strange new world. Cats playing piano can now get more attention than political leaders — perhaps deservedly. Artificial intelligence can now generate chillingly compelling “ fake news .” Police are having trouble pulling over Teslas whose drivers are sleeping .

But these effects are small compared with what I believe are the central questions of our time: Will all this accelerating technology — which will generate incredible productivity and wealth — also cause labor […]

As technology changes our lives, shouldn’t it change our taxes?

As technology changes our lives, shouldn’t it change our taxes?

Picture: iSTOCK Technology and the internet are changing our lives. Online shopping is displacing the high street. The gig economy is disrupting employment patterns and wages. Gaming and streaming are altering leisure habits.

However, economies are being affected by the transformations to our lifestyles resulting from smartphones, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality, autonomous cars, to the internet of things and 3D printing.

Online shopping and price-comparison websites give consumers better information and more choice of places from which to buy, making it harder for companies to raise prices. Central banks are thus questioning whether inflation targeting remains valid for setting interest […]

How Digital Natives and Automation Are Reshaping the Workforce

How Digital Natives and Automation Are Reshaping the Workforce

Dr. Julie Albright during her keynote presentation at the Data Center World 2019 conference in Phoenix. (Photo: Rich Miller) PHOENIX, Ariz. – If you sometimes feel uneasy about the pace of technology and how quickly it is changing our world, you’re not alone. The exploding use of mobile devices is changing how we live and work, according to Dr. Julie Albright, especially for a generation of younger “digital natives” who have grown up with these technologies.

Albright is a Digital Sociologist at the University of Southern California, who studies the impact of technology on human behavior and society. She says […]

The new spirit of postcapitalism

The new spirit of postcapitalism

Barcelona is one of the ‘fearless cities’, where the seeds of postcapitalism can start to grow The streets are full of young people (and not just students)—sitting, sipping drinks, gazing more at laptops than into each other’s eyes, talking quietly about politics, making art, looking cool.

A time traveller from their grandparents’ youth might ask: when is lunchtime over? But it’s never over because for many networked people it never really begins. In the developed world, large parts of urban reality look like Woodstock in permanent session—but what is really happening is the devalorisation of capital.

Sure, somewhere on the edge […]

The new spirit of postcapitalism

The new spirit of postcapitalism

Capitalism emerged in the interstices of feudalism and Paul Mason finds a prefiguring of postcapitalism in the lifeworld of the contemporary European city. Raval, Barcelona, March 2019. The streets are full of young people (and not just students)—sitting, sipping drinks, gazing more at laptops than into each other’s eyes, talking quietly about politics, making art, looking cool.

A time traveller from their grandparents’ youth might ask: when is lunchtime over? But it’s never over because for many networked people it never really begins. In the developed world, large parts of urban reality look like Woodstock in permanent session—but what is […]

Regulating Work in an Age of Fissuring and Automation

Regulating Work in an Age of Fissuring and Automation

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Employers may increasingly automate their workplaces, requiring a new approach to workplace regulation.

Why and when do firms hire employees? This question has grown urgent in light of two trends that are undermining the standard employment relationship: “fissuring,” or firms’ growing tendency to secure inputs from outside suppliers, and automation, or the replacement of human labor with machines. The latter has been going on for centuries. But many informed observers argue that “this time is different,” and that innovations in robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning are likely in the foreseeable future to destroy more jobs than they create—and […]

Manufacturing Loses 6,000 Jobs in March, Paced by Motor Vehicles

Manufacturing Loses 6,000 Jobs in March, Paced by Motor Vehicles

U.S. manufacturing lost 6,000 jobs in March, led by job cuts in the motorized vehicles and parts sector.

The motorized vehicle category lost 6,300 jobs last month, according to a breakdown by industry sector issued today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That caused the overall transportation category to decline by 4,500 jobs.

U.S. deliveries of cars and light trucks are softening after four consecutive years with sales of 17 million vehicles or more. Sales of cars have been plunging as consumers move to crossovers and SUVs. That market trend claimed one victim when General Motors Co. idled its Lordstown, […]

A UTOMATION AND JOBS: Labour-saving technologies can boost employment [read]

The policy challenge posed by new labour-saving technology is not mass unemployment but how to help workers to make the transition from industries, occupations and regions where automation has destroyed jobs to those where jobs have been created. That is the central conclusion of new research by James Bessen. His study notes that while many people associate automation with a large-scale loss of jobs, as in many of today’s manufacturing industries, in the early years of the cotton textile, primary steel and automotive industries, employment grew strongly along with automation for many decades (see Figure 1 ). The key […]

Asia Leads in Industrial Robot Adoption. Why Do Europe and the U.S. Lag Behind?

Asia Leads in Industrial Robot Adoption. Why Do Europe and the U.S. Lag Behind?

Technology Robots are key tools for boosting productivity and living standards. To date, most robot adoption has occurred in manufacturing, where robots are designed to perform a wide variety of manual tasks more efficiently and consistently than humans. But with continued innovation, robot use is spreading to many other sectors, from agriculture to logistics and hospitality.

As a result, companies around the world are adopting robots. According to the International Federation of Robotics, the global average for industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers grew from 66 robots in 2015 to 85 in 2017. Korea is the world’s largest adopter, with […]