Tag: employment

The future of work: Being a cashier is Maryland’s most common occupation, but it’s vanishing

The future of work: Being a cashier is Maryland's most common occupation, but it's vanishing

Technological advances could leave Maryland cashier’s jobless. (Karl Merton Ferron / Baltimore Sun) Lester Watson began ringing up customers some 40 years ago at a five and dime store before he landed a job at Hutzler’s, the longtime Baltimore department store. He wrote up sales tickets by hand at first, calculating how much, with taxes, a customer owed. Later, he punched numbered keys on a cash register that did the math for him.

Now, the 59-year-old cashier works at Graul’s Market in Ruxton, all but teaching a master class in customer service. As he scans product codes into what’s now […]

Running out of human workers? Better buy robots

Running out of human workers? Better buy robots

The robots are coming to a field near you Record high employment means that businesses are turning to automation – Merryn Somerset Webb asks Walter Price of the Allianz Technology Trust about the best ways to invest.

Horrible news for British strawberry lovers, says The Guardian: this year’s crop – which has started to ripen two weeks early, thanks to the good spring weather – may end up rotting on the ground. Why? A shortage of fruit-pickers. Growers across Europe are “competing for labour”. Demand is high everywhere (hence better deals on pay, bonuses and accommodation), but supply is […]

Letter — Limited government approach to income inequality

One idea, proposed by conservative economist Milton Friedman. is to provide a minimum income for the poor. Such a program would be more efficient since it would eliminate many welfare programs requiring fewer government workers to run.

Besides the poor, we need to address the problem of disappearing jobs. Globalization has been a factor where some have been displaced by competing workers that pay lower wages as compared to our country. Another factor eliminating jobs has been automation reducing the number of workers required. One example has been the coal industry. Lastly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) threatens to destroy millions of […]

Letter — Limited government approach to income inequality

One idea, proposed by conservative economist Milton Friedman. is to provide a minimum income for the poor. Such a program would be more efficient since it would eliminate many welfare programs requiring fewer government workers to run.

Besides the poor, we need to address the problem of disappearing jobs. Globalization has been a factor where some have been displaced by competing workers that pay lower wages as compared to our country. Another factor eliminating jobs has been automation reducing the number of workers required. One example has been the coal industry. Lastly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) threatens to destroy millions of […]

Craftsmen: Capitalism’s conscientious objectors

This is the most amazing sound,” Warwick Jones says. I listen closely. There are footfalls, the rustle of fabric, and, most importantly, the voices of craftsmen. Jones grins. “You don’t hear a machine,” he says.

Jones is the CEO of Oxxford Clothes, a company that largely eschews the conventional machinery of mass-produced clothing. Even in the luxurious realm of high-end men’s attire—suits, topcoats, blazers, tuxedos, and slacks—Oxxford’s commitment to handwork is unique. There is no other company in the world that I know of with a corps of trained artisans committed to producing the kind of handmade garments that, once […]

‘The UK is a long way behind in terms of productivity’: Mike Wilson, BARA

Chairman of the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) Mike Wilson discusses the ‘underperforming’ state of the UK’s manufacturing robot industry. He says without an increased commitment to automation, it will find itself with bigger problems on its plate than Brexit.

“The UK is a long way behind in terms of productivity,” says Mike Wilson of the British Automation and Robot Association (BARA). “The increased use of robotics is an important element of addressing that shortfall.” Wilson is the chairman of BARA, an organisation that represents “the supply chain for robot and automation products into the UK”. Its membership consists […]

Nearly Half of All Retail Sales Jobs May Soon Be Replaced by Automation

Nearly Half of All Retail Sales Jobs May Soon Be Replaced by Automation

A sales associate adds the finishing touches as shoppers get a sneak peek of the Macy’s Backstage outlet store in Paramus, N.J. Soon enough, almost no existing occupation will be unaffected by technology.

About 25% of employment in the United States, or 36 million jobs , will be seriously disrupted by automation over the coming decades, according to the Brookings Institution. The researchers added that some 36% (or 52 million) jobs will face medium exposure while another 39% (or 57 million) will experience low exposure to digital technologies by 2030.

“Historically, workplace substitution by machines has freed up humans to focus […]

The Repercussions of Automation

The Repercussions of Automation

FREMONT, CA – The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is driving human productivity to new levels, transforming the approaches adopted by different sectors across the globe. As automation is deployed across different levels, the human workforce is slowly being replaced by automated machines.

According to recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute, around 15 percent of the global workforce will likely be replaced by machines by 2030. However, the creation of new jobs could make up for the lost positions. Consequently, almost 75 million to 375 million people across the globe might need to switch their occupations.

Nevertheless, emerging technologies are […]

Texas manufacturers worried about finding workers, tariffs

Texas manufacturers worried about finding workers, tariffs

Employees listen to speakers during the Toyota Texas tenth anniversary celebration of the San Antonio plant in 2013. Difficulties finding workers and anxiety over trade disputes and tariffs are weighing on Texas manufacturers, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

Indexes measuring general business activity and company outlook both turned negative, while a metric assessing uncertainty about firms’ outlooks reached its highest point since last September.

On ExpressNews.com: Toyota to decide by June 30 on almost $400 million plant upgrade “We need a sensible immigration program to support manufacturing growth in the U.S.,” a food manufacturer wrote in comments […]

Why is Uganda chasing cryptocurrency?

Why is Uganda chasing cryptocurrency?

When we speak about the world of blockchain, most people perceive it as a technology for the developed world, and something unachievable for developing countries on continents such as Africa.

However, even though the implementation and adaptation of the technology are lagging behind in these regions, the interest surpasses even the largest crypto hubs such as China and the USA.

A simple Google trends analysis shows us that Ugandans are in the Top 5 most crypto interesting countries in the world, alongside some African countries such as Ghana, South Africa, and Nigeria.In fact, Ugandans have already begun to switch to cryptocurrencies […]