Tag: inequality

Are Robots Coming For Our Jobs? New Research Shows They Might Not Be As Beneficial As We Thought

Are Robots Coming For Our Jobs? New Research Shows They Might Not Be As Beneficial As We Thought

Robotics And Automation

Introduction

Robots are coming, and it may not be good news for workers. Automation has been said to boost economic growth and productivity, but it might not mean better wages and job opportunities for workers. This new research raises an important question: are robots coming for our jobs? In this blog post, we will explore the implications of this research and discuss whether or not robots really are coming for our jobs. The rise of robots Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash As the use of robots and other automated technologies continues to grow, […]

Robots are coming—and it doesn’t look pretty for workers. Get ready for long hours, less pay, and fewer jobs.

Robots are coming—and it doesn’t look pretty for workers. Get ready for long hours, less pay, and fewer jobs.

NAO, a humanoid robot, entertains visitors at the SoftBank Robotics stand at the 2018 CeBIT technology trade fair on June 12, 2018 in Hanover, Germany. Americans who worry about robots taking their jobs are just “ fearmongers ” who’ve watched too many movies, right?

Artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics will boost workers’ productivity and spur economic growth while creating new, higher-paying jobs—or at least that’s the argument.

But new research shows the rise of robots may not be as beneficial for workers as some claim . Automation could have positive impacts on economic growth and productivity, according to economists, but workers […]

Will robots take your job — or bump you into a new one?

Will robots take your job — or bump you into a new one?

Will robots take your job — or bump you into a new one?

By DEREK ROBERTSON

12/07/2022 04:45 PM ESTPresented by Ericsson Listen to the third episode of POLITICO Tech’s multi-part podcast series on cybercrime below, and find the whole series here . BALTIMORE — A robotic ballet plays out around the clock every day in a vast building on the outskirts of Baltimore, a city with a long history as a logistics hub in its own right.Inside the complex, technically known as Amazon’s BWI2 Robotics Fulfillment Center, yellow, tower-like robots on wheels deliver everything from Pringles cans […]

Understanding the Effects of Automation on Employment

Understanding the Effects of Automation on Employment

Understanding the Effects of Automation on Employment We’ve been hearing stories about the impending collapse of the human workforce for at least the last 30 years – possibly longer depending on what movies we’ve seen. You already know how it goes. Robots will come along and take our jobs. Artificial intelligence (AI) will eventually become self-sufficient, and we will all die anyway, at which point we will no longer require a job.

The thing is, much like we were supposed to have flying cars by now, much of what we were told would happen has not happened.

Nonetheless, the use of […]

Industrial robots increase unemployment and lower wages

Industrial robots increase unemployment and lower wages

Ryan is a senior editor at TechForge Media with over a decade of experience covering the latest technology and interviewing leading industry figures. He can often be sighted at tech conferences with a strong coffee in one hand and a laptop in the other. If it’s geeky, he’s probably into it. Find him on Twitter: @Gadget_Ry

Research from China justifies concerns about the impact of industrial robots on the workforce.

Critics of automation believe it will replace many predominately blue-collar jobs. Proponents of industrial robots argue that new jobs will be created and the workforce will adapt.At least in the short […]

Industrial robots in China push people out of jobs, slash wages

Industrial robots in China push people out of jobs, slash wages

Exposure to industrial robots in the workplace leads to less participation in the labor force, less employment, and less pay, according to economics researchers.

Workplace automation also appears to increase family debt and reduce – by only a small amount – the number of children born to affected families, while adding to the time and money that families invest in existing children.

In a paper titled "How do Workers and Households Adjust to Robots? Evidence from China," distributed by the National Bureau of Economics Research, co-authors Osea Giuntella (University of Pittsburgh), Yi Lu (Tsinghua University), and Tianyi Wang (University of Toronto) […]

Automation and polarisation

Automation and polarisation

Automation technologies have spread rapidly throughout the advanced economies during the last decades. The number of industrial robots per worker in the US economy increased from 0.38 to 1.8 between 1993 and 2017, while the share of information technology in overall US investment rose from 3.5% to 23% between 1950 and 2020. These developments have caused fears of widespread displacement of workers and sparked a debate about the future role of human labour in the economy (e.g. Mokyr et al. 2015).

A growing body of evidence has documented the consequences of automation. Much of this evidence points to its polarising […]

MIT study finds automation is a contributor to wage inequality

MIT study finds automation is a contributor to wage inequality

Careers Image: © Knut/Stock.adobe.com MIT researchers found that automation accounted for more than half of the increase in the income gap between educated and less-educated workers in the US.

A new study by researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has found that automation is a contributor to wage inequality.

Their research quantified the extent to which automation has contributed to income inequality in the US over the past few decades.This change in technology, such as self-checkouts in supermarkets or assembly-line devices, has contributed to a growing gap in wage equality, the research showed.Since the 1980s, the income gap between more […]

Automation is driving wage inequality in the US

Over the past 40 years, income inequality has been rising rapidly in several countries — especially in the US. While there are many factors contributing to this, one single variable, automation, accounts for over half of this increase. Cashierless, self-check-out systems are becoming increasingly popular. Image credits: Kgbo. If you’ve ever used a self-checkout service at a supermarket, you’ve probably noticed that you’re not really faster than a clerk. You’re probably not saving any time, and you’re not really any better off than with a human clerk. The only party benefiting from this is the store, which saves money […]

New data suggest most of the growth in the wage gap since 1980 comes from automation

New data suggest most of the growth in the wage gap since 1980 comes from automation

A newly published paper quantifies the extent to which automation has contributed to income inequality in the U.S., simply by replacing workers with technology — whether self-checkout machines, call-center systems, assembly-line technology, or other devices. Credit: Jose-Luis Olivares, MIT When you use self-checkout machines in supermarkets and drugstores, you are probably not—with all due respect—doing a better job of bagging your purchases than checkout clerks once did. Automation just makes bagging less expensive for large retail chains.

"If you introduce self-checkout kiosks, it’s not going to change productivity all that much," says MIT economist Daron Acemoglu. However, in terms of […]