Tag: inequality

8 in 10 South Koreans Believe 4th Industrial Revolution Will See Fewer Jobs

8 in 10 South Koreans Believe 4th Industrial Revolution Will See Fewer Jobs

Among the 1,000 people surveyed, more than 900 expected some will experience adverse effects from the technological changes, but only 35.1 percent thought the problems would be serious, while 57.8 percent thought they weren’t worth worrying about. (Image: Kobiz Media) SEOUL, April 6 (Korea Bizwire) – Eight out of ten people in South Korea believe the fourth industrial revolution will see advanced technologies such as AI and automation take away jobs from people, a recent survey has revealed.

The survey, conducted by market researcher Trend Monitor and published yesterday, asked 1,000 smartphone users aged between 15 and 59 in South […]

Burger-Slinging Failed Labor Secretary Nominee Is Back to Explain Why You Should Earn Less Money

Burger-Slinging Failed Labor Secretary Nominee Is Back to Explain Why You Should Earn Less Money

Andrew Puzder was last seen withdrawing himself from Trump’s nomination as Labor Secretary and retiring from his longtime job as CEO of Hardees and Carl’s Jr. But nothing can stop him from sharing his thoughts about how to make the lives of working people worse.

Considering how much public outrage accompanied every single Trump cabinet nomination, it must be noted that Puzder is the only one who pouted and took his ball and went home, rather than have people say mean things about him, like “Labor Department employees loathe the idea of working for this man” or “Andrew Puzder has […]

One San Francisco Politician Is Exploring A Tax On Robots

One San Francisco Politician Is Exploring A Tax On Robots

With fears about the job-killing effects of automation growing every day, once unthinkable ideas are starting to get an airing . A universal basic income (UBI)–where the government gives everyone enough money to live on– has lots of supporters , especially in Silicon Valley. And now some prominent individuals are calling for a tax on robots. The thinking: If you make robots more expensive, there will be more public funds to help retrain workers (or pay for that basic income)–and the higher cost might keep some companies from buying robots and quickly tanking the employment rate.

Bill Gates recently called […]

Robots and automation are going white collar – but they’re not here to steal your job just yet

Robots and automation are going white collar - but they're not here to steal your job just yet

Reporters called it the robot, but its physical presence was hardly felt.

It was almost invisible, just a Microsoft Excel macro that could write a fairly detailed stock-market report that could then be edited and polished by a human journalist.

But when Reuters introduced the robot to its newsroom in 2007 – just before the financial crisis – it was an early sign that manufacturing was not the only industry that automation was infiltrating.White-collar workers in fields like journalism, finance, medicine, and law are seeing an increasing use of machines, but one much less damaging to workers’ job prospects. Unlike in […]

Robots and automation are going white collar — but they’re not here to steal your job just yet

Robots and automation are going white collar — but they’re not here to steal your job just yet

The anthropomorphic robot named hitchBOT sits on the shoulder of Highway 102 to begin its 6,000-kilometer cross-country journey, outside Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 27, 2014.

Reporters called it the robot, but its physical presence was hardly felt.

It was almost invisible, just a Microsoft Excel macro that could write a fairly detailed stock-market report that could then be edited and polished by a human journalist.But when Reuters introduced the robot to its newsroom in 2007 — just before the financial crisis — it was an early sign that manufacturing was not the only industry that automation was infiltrating.White-collar workers in fields […]

Study: Robots Responsible For “Rust Belt” Unemployment, Not Illegal Immigrants

Study: Robots Responsible For “Rust Belt” Unemployment, Not Illegal Immigrants

MIT and Boston University researchers have found that industrial automation is strongly correlated with unemployment and economic inequality in the manufacturing centers of the United States, taking more jobs away than immigrants or increased foreign imports. Rosser Pryor, Co-owner and President of Factory Automation Systems, stands near new high-performance industrial robots at the company’s Atlanta facility. (AP/David Goldman) MINNEAPOLIS– While the media and numerous politicians have often blamed Midwestern unemployment on illegal immigration, a new study asserts that the advent of factory robots is the most significant factor in the steep reduction of available jobs in what was once […]

Robo-AI jobs doomsday may, er… not actually happen, say boffins

Robo-AI jobs doomsday may, er... not actually happen, say boffins

Damn. Can we have our technopanic back, please?

Special Report Today’s technopanic about robots and AI, largely created by the media, may be overstated.

New modelling published this week attempts to isolate the impact of industrial automation from other factors, and envisage what the economy might look like if the use of robots in industry increases, focusing on the impact on employment rates and working-class wages. Factory robots may have a significant impact on both – but only if the adoption of automation increases dramatically, the authors note. And it may not.In recent months headline-grabbing studies by consultants McKinsey and […]

Tips for Outsmarting Job-Stealing Robots

Attention, Americans: Robots in the U.S. are stealing jobs, reducing wages and promoting inequality.

That’s according to new research published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Economists Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Pascual Restrepo of Boston University were behind the study.

The automation analysis looked at industrial robots’ impact in the U.S. between 1990 and 2007, according to a report on the research in the MIT Technology Review . During that period, automation led to the loss of up to 670,000 American jobs, with manufacturing workers taking the hardest blow. The MIT Tech Review says:Adjusting for […]

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

In October 2016, two leading P2P platforms in the U.S. — Lending Club and Prosper — announced a new increase in interest rates for lower-grade loans. The decision was made in order to sustain investor demand, as the model platforms are operating under challenges faced during the last months due to compliance issues with Lending Club and the general turbulence of the P2P lending industry.

However, keeping the investor demand stable is not the only reason for recent changes — as Lending Club announced, delinquencies are growing, especially when it comes to high-risk loans.

October 2016 was not the first time […]

Study: Robots Actually Hurt Wages, Stoke Pay Inequality

Study: Robots Actually Hurt Wages, Stoke Pay Inequality

Robots weld the bodies of Porsche Macan SUVs at the new Porsche Macan factory at the Porsche plant on February 11, 2014. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Industrial robots had a significant impact on U.S. employment and wages for many local labor markets between 1990 and 2007, according to new research.

“Employment effects of robots are most pronounced in manufacturing, and in particular, in industries most exposed to robots; in routine manual, blue collar, assembly and related occupations; and for workers with less than college education,” reads the study from the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). “Interestingly, and perhaps […]