Tag: inequality

A task-based approach to inequality

This paper reviews recent work on how automation and task displacement have contributed to labour share declines and inequality in the US labour market. We summarise the basic building blocks of a task-based framework in which a set of tasks is allocated between capital, skilled labour and unskilled labour. Automation, which corresponds to the use of new technologies expanding the set of tasks that can be performed by capital, always reduces the labour share in value added and may depress overall wages and employment. The negative effects of automation on labour share and its potentially adverse consequences for labour […]

Nice raise. Too bad about inflation.

Nice raise. Too bad about inflation.

House Speaker Pelosi Holds Weekly News Conference You got a raise last year or switched jobs to get one. Congratulations! You’re one of the many Americans who saw their paychecks get bigger. Unfortunately, unless your wages or salary grew much higher than the national average of 4.5 percent last year , inflation likely canceled it out. That means that while you might be making more money, you can buy less stuff with it.

That’s bad news for you, but it’s also probably bad news for your boss. Employers are struggling to retain and attract workers amid the Great Resignation , […]

How ethical automation can be deployed in the workplace

How ethical automation can be deployed in the workplace

Careers Image: © besjunior/Stock.adobe.com Hays’ Tim Olsen explores the ethical implications of bringing automation into the workforce and what employers need to think about.

When deploying automation, the overall objective should be to provide improved employment for workers and society as a whole. Factors such as wellbeing and self-development should be the overriding objective.

Automation must result in net employment growth for the economy. More jobs should be forthcoming as a result of improved productivity than are lost from it. It is critical that the workforce can gain skills quickly and be mobilised without lag to transition from increasingly redundant skillsets […]

Economists Pin Blame for Rising Inequality on Automation

Economists Pin Blame for Rising Inequality on Automation

This New York Times article indicates several economists have discovered direct links between the deployment of automation and the rising income inequality. The economists identify what they term “so-so” automation as the most damaging. So-so automation is defined as automation that displaces workers with little or no productivity gain. It offers self-checkout kiosks as an example.

Interestingly, in 2019 Mercator delivered the following charts to several of our members. The first chart identifies our projections for the number of jobs most likely to be displaced by 2030 – and cashiers were close to the top of the list:

The second graphic […]

AI is quietly eating up the world’s workforce with job automation

AI is quietly eating up the world’s workforce with job automation

Image Credit: mikkelwilliam/Getty Hear from CIOs, CTOs, and other C-level and senior execs on data and AI strategies at the Future of Work Summit this January 12, 2022. Learn more

This article was contributed by Valerias Bangert, strategy and innovation consultant, founder of three media outlets, and published author. AI job automation: The debate

The debate around whether AI will automate jobs away is heating up. AI critics claim that these statistical models lack the creativity and intuition of human workers and that they are thus doomed to specific, repetitive tasks. However, this pessimism fundamentally underestimates the power […]

What’s Driving Inequality? Automation, BU Researcher Says

What’s Driving Inequality? Automation, BU Researcher Says

Photo by iStock/maginima Pascual Restrepo on robots’ role in the rich-poor gap

Any number of suspects have been blamed for the growing gap between rich and poor Americans : the decline of unions. Trade. Jobs being shipped offshore. But a recent paper coauthored by BU economist Pascual Restrepo , says the primary driver is something else altogether: automation.

The paper—by Restrepo, a College of Arts & Sciences assistant professor of economics, and MIT’s Daron Acemoglu—says blue-collar workers in jobs vulnerable to automation are losing employment and income. They compete for fewer jobs with other blue-collar workers, pushing down wages. Meanwhile, […]

How Will Intelligent Automation Impact Employment?

How Will Intelligent Automation Impact Employment?

Pascal Bornet is a recognized global expert, thought leader, and author in the field of Intelligent Automation. CDO at Aera Technology. getty Intelligent automation refers to a powerful and continually evolving set of technologies for automating knowledge work and augmenting the work of human knowledge workers. Based on the speed and scale of its recent advances, it is likely to have a huge impact on the world of work and, by extension, on all of society.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, considers intelligent automation as a key component of the fourth industrial revolution.

Just like […]

Anthony Clayton | Jamaica in 2050 Part 6: The future of work

Anthony Clayton | Jamaica in 2050 Part 6: The future of work

Professor Anthony Clayton This is the sixth in a series of eight articles looking at the ways that the world will change between now and 2050 and analysing the implications for Jamaica’s future.

The first article in this series suggested that the reforms needed to avert climate change would not only help to solve the threat, they could also lead to an era of unprecedented prosperity, and that the countries that master the relevant technologies and strategies will be the ones that survive and prosper in the years ahead. The following articles looked at the way that countries can […]

Dangers of unregulated artificial intelligence

Dangers of unregulated artificial intelligence

Over the last decade, artificial intelligence has made great advances and influenced almost all industries. This column argues that the current AI technologies are more likely to generate various adverse social consequences, rather than the promised gains. It provides examples of the potential dangers for product markets, labour markets, and democratic institutions, and emphasises that the main problem is not AI itself, but the way leading firms are approaching data and their use. Policy should thus be focused on redirecting technological change to create new capabilities and opportunities for workers and citizens.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often touted as the […]

Job Shortages, Pandemic Drive Record-Breaking North American Robot Orders

Job Shortages, Pandemic Drive Record-Breaking North American Robot Orders

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Industrial robots are hot, with North American orders for the first nine months of 2021 valued at US$1.48 billion, breaking a record set in 2017.
The order numbers are 37 percent higher than the same period in 2020, from 21,072 to 29,000 units, and a value jump of 35 percent, from $1.09 billion to $1.48 billion, according to figures released Friday by the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), […]