Tag: employment

Blame the policies, not the robots

The claim that automation is responsible for massive job losses has been made in almost every one of the Democratic debates. In the last debate , technology entrepreneur Andrew Yang told of automation closing stores on Main Street and of self-driving trucks that would shortly displace “3.5 million truckers or the 7 million Americans who work in truck stops, motels, and diners” that serve them. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (Hawaii) suggested that the “automation revolution” was at “the heart of the fear that is well-founded.”

When Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) argued that trade was a bigger culprit than automation, the fact-checker […]

6 skills that will never be replaced by automation

6 skills that will never be replaced by automation

The nature of work is evolving. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) are spurring a revolution, transforming jobs in every industry from IT to manufacturing.

The latest OECD Employment Outlook report reports that around 36% of Australian jobs face a significant or high risk of being automated in the next 15 to 20 years. If this number is worrying, you’re not alone. Half of all Aussie employees are concerned about their job will be replaced by technology at some point down the line.

However, automation isn’t going to eliminate jobs but rather, transform them. While some skills can be automated — such […]

American Manufacturing is No Longer a Sad Bruce Springsteen Song

American Manufacturing is No Longer a Sad Bruce Springsteen Song

In 1978 Bruce Springsteen released a song titled "Factory" on his fourth album, Darkness on the Edge of Town . The song, based on Springsteen’s father’s time working at a factory in New Jersey, is a haunting tale of despair that frames life on an assembly line as one of almost relentless bleakness.

Springsteen’s "Factory" paints an accurate picture of late seventies grease-stained drudgery.

Unfortunately, that perception still exists. In popular culture, manufacturing and factory work are often still portrayed as a fast track to a sore back and a regretful heart.That perception is wrong.A large percentage American manufacturing long ago […]

Will Jobs Be Lost to Automation?

Will Jobs Be Lost to Automation?

Product and technology innovation has transformed life as we know it in the last few decades, and the pace of change is only getting faster over the next decade. Inventors and innovators continue to look for ways to make life easier, automate repetitive tasks, and remove the likelihood of human error by teaching machines to do what humans would otherwise do. Self-driving cars removing the need for human drivers, robots automating manufacturing processes that required line workers, and self-guided vacuums and lawn mowers are only a few examples.

While several jobs are certainly being automated for greater efficiency, if you […]

Automation and AI: Implications for African Development Prospects?

Automation and AI: Implications for African Development Prospects?

Introduction

Now that computers are capable of taking the jobs that require brain as well as brawn, it may appear there is little left for humans to do. There are many scary forecasts of the capacity of automation and AI to replace a lot of workers very fast. Self-driving vehicles may wipe out opportunities for taxi drivers and truckers, for example. Brynjolfsson, Rock, and Syverson note there are 3.5 million people employed driving vehicles in the US. If automation reduced that to 1.5 million, that alone would increase total US labor productivity by 1.7 percent, [1] but it would […]

Will autonomous cars eradicate driving jobs? Don’t hold your breath

Will autonomous cars eradicate driving jobs? Don’t hold your breath

Automation, job security, and truck driving were center stage at last week’s Democratic debate. Andrew Yang and Elizabeth Warren in particular sparred over whether automation was going to kill jobs and wipe out the trucking industry. Without a doubt, the next 10 years will see drastic changes to the way cars and trucks move us and our cargo around.

But the next decade of changes will entail much smaller changes than many people – presidential candidates included – are expecting. The 2020s probably won’t bring flying cars, solar roads, or robot gas pumps. Like much of our current world and […]

The university degrees to avoid if you want a job after studying

The university degrees to avoid if you want a job after studying

Technology has for years been changing the future of Australia’s workforce, keeping our university graduates on their toes.

But a new report focusing on the changing landscape of university to employment transitions is proving there’s definite light at the end of the tunnel, drawing a more optimistic picture for young graduates.

The Future of Work For Australian Graduates from the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work looks at exactly what is causing disruption to our nation’s labour market and how us humans can survive increasingly tech-reliant industries.The report, commissioned by Graduate Careers Australia, found having a degree is still a […]

Will The Future Of Work Require More Investment In Technology, Not Less?

Will The Future Of Work Require More Investment In Technology, Not Less?

Will The Future Of Work Require More Investment In Technology, Not Less? Getty In 2018 MIT created a ‘Task Force on the Work of the Future’ to explore the way technologies are impacting the world of work, and how society can adapt to ensure that prosperity is broadly shared throughout. They aim to cut through the hyperbole that has sadly come to dominate this topic and give empirical, evidence-driven commentary.

The task force have recently published their first official report not with an express aim to provide definitive answers, but rather to help leaders and policy makers ensure they’re able […]

Robots As Job Creators? Upskilling, Cobots And AI May Prove Job Loss Doomsayers Wrong

Robots As Job Creators? Upskilling, Cobots And AI May Prove Job Loss Doomsayers Wrong

Getty Conventional wisdom has it that a coming onslaught of industrial robots will throw millions of current factory workers out of their jobs. The direst predictions envision whole classes of people permanently locked out of the working world.

As I detailed in one of my earliest articles , robots eliminating manufacturing jobs is nothing new. It’s been going on for decades. But as technological development accelerates and robots become better and cheaper, the risk to current employment is intensified. But that’s not the whole story. Some jobs will be eliminated, certainly – but some will be changed, and new […]

The Rise of Global Trade in Services

The Rise of Global Trade in Services

Our mental images of "global trade" are usually about goods: cars and steel, computers and textiles, oil and home appliances, and so on. But in the next few decades, most of the action in terms of increasing global trade is likely to be in services, not goods. More and more of the effects of trade on jobs is going to involve services, too. However, most of us are not used to thinking about countries import and export across national borders transportation services, financial services, tourism, construction, health care and education services, or many others. The 2019 World Trade Report […]