Tag: employment

Ignore the fearmongers – robots will boost manufacturing jobs in Ireland

Ignore the fearmongers – robots will boost manufacturing jobs in Ireland

By Samantha Cummins-Byrne, Universal Robots

As Richard Bruton, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation makes clear in his foreword to the ‘Making it in Ireland: Manufacturing 2020’ report, Ireland is a proud manufacturing nation. The sector contributes 25% of GDP, employs 205,700 people directly and 400,000 people across all skill levels when indirect employment is taken into account.

It may come as a surprise then that Ireland is falling well behind its European counterparts in the automation race. In terms of robot density, Europe has the highest level worldwide, with the manufacturing industry comprising over 105 robots per 10,000 employees. […]

Nothing is certain – especially robot taxes

Nothing is certain – especially robot taxes

Shutterstock So, the Green Party has just proposed a “robot tax” as part of its platform ahead of the federal election.

This is an idea that’s gained some fanfare over the last couple of years, as fears of automation taking over swaths of jobs play out in the news.

Most notably, in early 2017, Bill Gates said governments should tax companies’ use of robots as a way to slow the spread of automation and fund other types of employment, according to an interview with Quartz, a business news organization.“Right now, the human worker who does, say, $50,000 worth of work in […]

Employees are in need new training to work with robots

Employees are in need new training to work with robots

Many modern economies are looking at an increasingly automated future. While advances are progressing with machines, a new survey finds businesses are concerned about inadequate workforce training.

The importance of having an adequately trained workforce is necessary to assist employees adapt to change, so that they can work alongside robots. The fact that few companies appear to be investing in this suggest that businesses are failing to prepare humans for the future of work. The new survey comes from the analytics and advice firm, Gallup in relation to the U.K. workforce and it explores the need for technology to prepare […]

Robots are shrinking American paychecks

Robots are shrinking American paychecks

A new study has shown that robots are lowering the wages of American workers.

Two economists from the Federal Reserve of San Francisco have found that in the last two decades, the portion of national income going to workers has declined — meaning that wages are suffering.

The economists found that part of it is due to automation, with increased uses of robotics filling gaps in jobs and reducing bargaining power for workers. View Markets Insider’s homepage for more stories. Robots are eating into American wages.That’s according to a new study by economists at the […]

Lose The Stock Market Or Lose Your Money

Lose The Stock Market Or Lose Your Money

In the next decade we will see an unprecedented number of companies become obsolete. With people You may have a sense of it, the stock market is in danger. Granted, it’s been over-promising and under-delivering to the masses for a long time. We can thank corporate greed, flash trading, a myriad of fees, and the inevitable “correction” that transfers wealth from the masses to the minority. The stock market has been a failed financial experiment when it comes to funding retirement or creating financial independence.

There is a radical difference in the thinking for privately held companies if they become […]

Pope Francis Says If AI Fails Mankind, It Would Lead To Barbarism

Pope Francis Says If AI Fails Mankind, It Would Lead To Barbarism

Joining the illustrious list of names like Elon Musk, Jack Ma and Stephen Hawking, Pope Francis this week sounded alarm bells regarding the increasing use of artificial intelligence. Speaking at a Vatican tech conference, Pope Francis was of the opinion that technology needed both "theoretical as well as moral principals".

According to a report by a noted new agency , Pope Francis said, "The remarkable developments in the field of technology, in particular, those dealing with AI, raise increasingly significant implications in all areas of human activity. For this reason, open and concrete discussions on this theme are needed now […]

Insurance’s WTF question receives its answer

Insurance's WTF question receives its answer

It was just yesterday that Lloyd’s of London released its blueprint outlining the future of the world’s oldest insurance market. The marketplace wants to progress and become reflective of the modern world that appeared to have left it behind – with plans outlined for a heightened focus on digital, data and technologies.

However, while Lloyd’s intentions may only just have made headline news the insurance industry has, in truth, been grappling with the WTF question for a decade or more – that’s “what’s the future?” for those of you wondering.

Whether it was the explosion of comparison websites, the switch to […]

The Career Balance

I’m conducting new primary research with people who make significant career changes. For some, this could mean self-employment, for others a change in direction, perhaps even a return to what they always wanted to do before a corporate career took them down a different path.

What I’ve discovered so far has some interesting implications for anyone wanting to change career, and also HR professionals who want to increase retention.

It seems that people prefer corporate jobs because of money and security, and people prefer to be self employed because of independence and freedom. You probably think there’s no surprise in that, […]

Major challenges facing our young people, graduates and students today

Major challenges facing our young people, graduates and students today

The workplace is ever-changing. Employers are demanding increasing flexibility, adaptability, short-term contracts, and project-based work, while workers are increasingly demanding job security, higher wages, and better work conditions.

Both from the supply and demand side of the work equation, we are experiencing very challenging times ahead for both employers and workers within the context of increasing business competition, automation, and aging population.

Unfortunately, this gap will only increase over time in the future.Without a doubt, there will be more over-qualified job seekers and graduates going after fewer available job vacancies due mainly to automation and the aging population. As a result, […]

High-tech jobs will be created

High-tech jobs will be created

In 1801, Jacquard Loom invented a steel punch card system to control thread-dispensing shuttles, allowing multicolored, patterned textiles to be produced without the constant attention of human weavers. It was the birth of automation and the start of a tense relationship between worker and machine that continues to this day.

Mechanization of the apparel and other industries followed, making craft jobs obsolete while creating new ones requiring little skill. Philosopher Karl Marx described the change as “alienation of labor,” because it deprived workers of the satisfaction of creating a complete product and instead made them “cogs” in production machines. His […]