Tag: employment

ADB Raises Asia Growth Rate, Warns of Trade Tension Risks

ADB Raises Asia Growth Rate, Warns of Trade Tension Risks

While some companies have developed robots that can sew clothes, the high cost of these machines means that many garment makers still prefer to expand their workforce in countries such as Bangladesh (picture), Ethiopia and Vietnam. T he Asian Development Bank raised its 2018 economic growth estimate for developing Asia to 6% from 5.8%, citing solid export demand, but said US protectionist measures and any retaliation against them could undermine trade.

Growth in developing Asia would only ease slightly to 5.9% in 2019, the bank said in its 2018 Asian Development Outlook released on Wednesday. Strong external and domestic demand […]

Do androids dream of electric sheep? Or why I’m not scared of robot lawyers

Do androids dream of electric sheep? Or why I'm not scared of robot lawyers

The 1982 Sci-Fi classic Blade Runner tells the complicated story set in 2019 of cyborgs with artificial intelligence who were largely indistinguishable from humans.

The test that Harrison Ford’s character, Rick Deckard, administered was aimed at distinguishing these “replicants” from humans based on their emotional response.

While very few lawyers get compared to a Harrison Ford character, such a storyline reminds us there are fundamental differences between the emotional capacity of lawyers and computer-based intelligence.Australian law firms are currently investing millions of dollars in AI-based document automation, contract reviews and even solutions for clients. There is no doubt this improves productivity […]

How Automation Is Changing the Manufacturing Workforce

How Automation Is Changing the Manufacturing Workforce

From the cute waste-collector WALL-E to the terrifying Terminator, films seem to portray robots similarly — overthrowing humanity. In reality, robots are rapidly appearing in manufacturing facilities, but are they taking over?

Manufacturers employ robots to meet customer demand, as they can quickly and efficiently complete tasks to increase productivity and help companies remain competitive. With these benefits, more and more manufacturers are introducing robotics to the assembly line. In fact, North American companies purchased 32 percent more robots in 2017 than in the same period in 2016. As manufacturers increase their dependence on technology, the human workforce will need […]

Barclays Launches New Study Revealing the Effects of Automation on the Global Workforce

NEW YORK–( BUSINESS WIRE )–Barclays Bank PLC (“Barclays”) today released the third report of its Impact Series, authored by Barclays’ Research team and supported by the Barclays Social Innovation Facility. Titled Robots at the gate: Humans and technology at work , the report explores the ways technology is fundamentally re-shaping the nature of work, and the implications of this re-shaping process accelerating in coming decades. “Technological acceleration has sparked both apprehension and intrigue in terms of its impact on the future of work. Much of the impact of technology in an economy depends not just on what is technically […]

Laboratory Grown Meat

Aim

Process

FocusThis Summer Research Scholarship was dedicated to analysing what the public sector could look like in 2035, in order for the IRD and related agencies to plan and prepare.To identify what the public sector could look like in 2035, things that had the capacity to change the public landscape (i.e. drivers of change) were identified and researched. Nine key drivers were analysed. The most significant driver and topic of this poster was Disruptive Technology. Two questions were asked of the research: Firstly, what is happening with this driver? And more specifically, so what does this mean for the IRD […]

Asia’s workers will benefit from new technologies, but government action is also needed: ADB study

MANILA, April 11 (Xinhua) — Technological advances have transformed the two billion workers in Asian labor market, helping create 30 million jobs annually in industry and services over the last 25 years, driving increases in productivity and wages, and reducing poverty, says a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) released on Wednesday.

New research on how technology affects jobs, the subject of the special theme chapter in the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2018 report, points out that while some of the region’s jobs will be eliminated through automation, countervailing forces will more than compensate against job losses.

ADO is […]

Where is Artificial Intelligence taking us?

Where is Artificial Intelligence taking us?

Recently, The Spectator , in association with NatWest, brought together leading entrepreneurs, MPs and technology writers to discuss where Artificial Intelligence (AI) – or the fourth industrial revolution as it is often termed – is taking us. Guests included: Simon McNamara , group CAO of NatWest, Damian Collins MP, Tugce Bulut, CEO of Streetbees, Nathan Gralton, MD of Scopesuite, Rob O’Donovan, CEO of Charlie HR, Jesse Lozano, CEO of Pi-Top, Charles Arthur, former tech editor for The Guardian and Independent , Alan Mak MP, Sarah Drinkwater, head of Campus London for Google, Rory Cellen-Jones, BBC technology correspondent, Kevin Hanley, […]

Paris Gourtsoyannis: The issue that unites Jeremy Corbyn and Bill Gates

Paris Gourtsoyannis: The issue that unites Jeremy Corbyn and Bill Gates

An early test of a robot waiter works in a cafe situation at the Akin Robotics factory in Turkey. The robots can speak and process what they hear, smell and see, even recognising customers. (Picture: Getty) Robots risk putting humans out of work. Should automation be taxed, asks Paris Gourtsoyannis.

“I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.”

Those words plunged humanity into a waking nightmare, 50 years ago this month. Robots have never really recovered from the reputational damage inflicted by Arthur Clarke’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, released as a Stanley Kubrick-directed film and a novel in […]

Analysis: Loss of factory jobs needn’t spell doom for nations, IMF Says

WASHINGTON — Economies don’t necessarily have less growth or higher income inequality as factory jobs become more scarce, the International Monetary Fund said.

Manufacturing’s share of employment has been declining in advanced economies for almost five decades, the IMF said Monday in an analysis that’s part of its latest World Economic Outlook.

The fall in factory employment has worried some economists and policymakers, who often see manufacturing as a key catalyst for a nation’s productivity growth and a solid source of good-paying jobs for lower-skilled workers.President Donald Trump has said he would revive the U.S. manufacturing sector and bring back jobs […]

Bots: An Investment in Technology or People?

Bots: An Investment in Technology or People?

(PHOTOCREO Michal Bednarek/Shutterstock) Fears about automation, its transformation of the workplace and effects on employment date back several decades. Fast forward to rapid recent advances in automation technologies, including AI, autonomous systems and robotics, and concerns are being raised anew — and with new urgency. However, the reality is that the technology will continue to evolve, as will our collective understanding of the economic implications.

Before we jump to conclusions, let’s take a step back and examine the potential workforce disruptions from automation and dig deeper into the new patterns that will emerge as the market continues to grow.

The […]