Tag: inequality

Resisting the rise of the robots

Resisting the rise of the robots

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Reactions In a world of growing automation and consequent job losses, what the continued existence of petrol attendants in South Africa shows is that a social contract can exist between business and government to preserve jobs. Surely the trade-off between jobs and mechanisation is up for negotiation.

A strike looms in the banking sector over the loss of jobs as banks close branches, supposedly an inevitable result of the move to internet banking. McDonald’s has introduced self-service kiosks, and Ster-Kinekor has added automated snack ordering to its automated ticket system.This is happening in a country where the […]

Philexport: Create more jobs to boost automation readiness

Philexport: Create more jobs to boost automation readiness

AN EXPORT industry leader has underscored the need for the country to create more employment opportunities especially in the rural areas to prepare itself for Industry 4.0 and foster inclusive national economic development agenda.

Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. (Philexport) president Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. noted the Yonsei University Automation Readiness Index 2017 indicating that low unemployment, labor productivity, income inequality and high gross domestic product (GDP) per capita are the factors affecting automation readiness.

“(These are) areas where the Philippines still needs to work on a lot. However, this does not mean that we should brush this issue aside. We must […]

The future of work will still include plenty of jobs

The future of work will still include plenty of jobs

Canada’s record has been one of modernization and transition and corresponding job obsolescence, without job scarcity Power loom weaving in a cotton mill in Lancashire, U.K., around 1835. Shutterstock (CP) — There is now widespread anxiety over the future of work, often accompanied by calls for a basic income to protect those displaced by automation and other technological changes.

As a labour economist, I am in favour of more efficient redistributive taxation through the application of refundable tax credits, which amounts to an income-tested basic income or negative income tax.

But I am more skeptical about the spectre of a future […]

The future of work will still include plenty of jobs

The future of work will still include plenty of jobs

Canada’s record has been one of modernization and transition and corresponding job obsolescence, without job scarcity Power loom weaving in a cotton mill in Lancashire, U.K., around 1835. Shutterstock (CP) — There is now widespread anxiety over the future of work, often accompanied by calls for a basic income to protect those displaced by automation and other technological changes.

As a labour economist, I am in favour of more efficient redistributive taxation through the application of refundable tax credits, which amounts to an income-tested basic income or negative income tax.

But I am more skeptical about the spectre of a future […]

The Future Of Humans, Taxes and Work

The Future Of Humans, Taxes and Work

It was a day like all others biking down the West Side Highway to work. Then BAM! Right out of nowhere a spandex-clad cyclist slammed into me from behind. I quickly grabbed his handlebars to protect the biker’s cranium from hitting the pavement. He reciprocated with loud shouts questioning my intelligence. When the disturbed human pedaled off, I noticed in his backpack two miniature dogs. Looking down at my bloodied hands, hearing the sad barks in the distance, I pondered the future of society as it races towards automation.

In the recent Democratic debate there was little discussion about the […]

Times of Malta Comment Policy

Times of Malta Comment Policy

One of the fathers of the US Constitution, James Madison, famously wrote that a democracy could not flourish if its people was ignorant; it could only end in farce, tragedy, or both. He had in mind both access to news and knowledge of constitutional rights and freedoms, and why they needed safeguarding.

So the process of constitutional reform here will hopefully mean that we not only change what needs to be changed for the better, but also ensure greater public awareness of constitutional values. Some things are worth reflecting on even if we have no intention of changing them.

The reason […]

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labour and Power in the Age of Automation – Book Review

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labour and Power in the Age of Automation – Book Review

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labour and Power in the Age of Automation . Carl Benedikt Frey. Princeton University Press. 2019.

It seems that barely a month can pass without new forecasts of technology-induced job losses hitting the front pages. The Office for National Statistics are at it , Deloitte , PricewaterhouseCoopers , the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); the World Bank even dedicated their most recent World Development Report to the future of work. Fittingly, it was Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne who turbo-charged the automation debate back in 2013 when their paper estimated that […]

The treasurer claimed the gender pay gap has closed. Job done! Except for the facts

The treasurer claimed the gender pay gap has closed. Job done! Except for the facts

Fellow feminists, rejoice! According to no less an authority than the treasurer of Australia, “…the gender pay gap has closed”. Josh Frydenberg said so, on Monday, in Question Time. It’s in Hansard, so it must be true.

Job done! We can all stop with the time-consuming advocacy and agitation, and just hit the shops to start spending the extra $241.50 per week we’re getting in our pay packets now that the government has brought our earnings into line with the blokes. Hurrah!

Except … not so much. It’s not true, as minister for women Marise Payne made clear in the Senate […]

Robots Won’t Take Away All Our Jobs, MIT Report Finds

Robots Won't Take Away All Our Jobs, MIT Report Finds

A robot and a human (Jesse Costa/WBUR) The robots are coming, but not necessarily for your job.

The likelihood that robots, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) will completely wipe out large swaths of the workforce is exaggerated, a new MIT report finds.

Get the latest news Boston is talking about sent to your inbox each day. Subscribe here .The report , from MIT’s "Work of the Future" task force, examines the relationship between technology and work, drawing on research from more than 20 faculty members.There’s no doubt technology will impact jobs, but researchers say there is a larger concern when it […]

Taxing Robots Is a Great Way to Make People Poor

Taxing Robots Is a Great Way to Make People Poor

(Bloomberg Opinion) — Of all the ideas that presidential candidates are offering to address the country’s economic woes, here’s one of the worst: Taxing, or even outlawing, automation.

Many people worry about the prospect of automation causing mass unemployment. This might be justified in the science-fiction future, if machines learn to do anything a human can do. But there’s no sign that the robot takeover is happening anytime soon.

First of all, despite rapid progress in industrial automation, most Americans still have jobs. This means that the economy is creating plenty of new jobs to compensate for those eliminated by robots. […]