High-tech US plants offer jobs even as the laid-off struggle

High-tech US plants offer jobs even as the laid-off struggle

Herbie Mays is 3M proud, and it shows — in the 3M shirt he wears; in the 3M ring he earned after three decades at the company’s plant in suburban Cincinnati; in the way he shows off a card from a 3M supervisor, praising Mays as "a GREAT employee."

But it’s all nostalgia.?

Mays’ last day at 3M was in March. Bent on cutting costs and refocusing its portfolio, the company decided to close the plant that made bandages, knee braces and other health care supplies and move work to its plant in Mexico.At 62, Mays is unemployed and wants to […]

Raising minimum wage will raise something else: An army of robots taking away folks’ jobs

Raising minimum wage will raise something else: An army of robots taking away folks' jobs

Low-skill workers are under threat either way, it appears

Raising the minimum wage increases the chance employers will automate low-skill jobs away, according to a paper published this week through National Bureau of Economic Research, a non-profit group of econ wonks.

In People Versus Machines: The Impact of Minimum Wages on Automatable Jobs , Grace Lordan, associate professor in health economics at the London School of Economics, and David Neumark, professor of economics at the University of California, Irvine, show that raising the minimum wage may have unintended consequences."Overall, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases significantly the share […]

Robots Gain from Higher Minimum Wage

Robots Gain from Higher Minimum Wage

America has not yet seen waves of widespread job loss due to automation. The U.S. economy created 209,000 jobs in August to continue its long streak of positive job creation, and the unemployment rate is down to 4.3 percent. Productivity growth remains sluggish , which would not be the case if more efficient machines were replacing droves of workers.

The lack of an aggregate effect on the labor market does not mean automation has not affected the labor market at all.

A new working paper by Grace Lordan of the London School of Economics and David Neumark of the University of […]

New study finds minimum wage hikes lead to job automation

New study finds minimum wage hikes lead to job automation

States that raise their minimum wages may put low-skill workers at risk of having their jobs automated, according to a new academic paper published Monday.

The study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that higher minimum wages are likely to lower employment in manufacturing jobs that can be performed by robots, and hit older, black, and female workers particularly hard. The paper, which has not yet gone through the peer review process, was written by Grace Lordan of the London School of Economics and David Neumark of the University of California at Irvine, one of the pre-eminent […]

But what about the human cost of automation?

But what about the human cost of automation?

New research from recruitment agency Robert Half has outlined the jobs which are under threat from automation, but when are we actually going to talk seriously about the dark side of AI ?

Now we’re not talking about Arnie coming back from the future, blowing up buildings and dropping memorable one-liners, but every step made towards a more efficient AI application is another step for someone towards the dole queue. The replacement of humans by machines is nothing new, but this revolution is one which is seemingly going completely unnoticed by governments around the world.

According to the survey from Robert […]

A new urban economic agenda: how to localise, socialise, and democratise the economy

A new urban economic agenda: how to localise, socialise, and democratise the economy

There are sensible ways through which we can reorganise the UK economy, argues Neil McInroy . He explains how a new urban economic agenda can be implemented and how it can help build a more socially just future.

All things must pass and the dominant urban economic model of the last few years is starting to creak, and a new progressive agenda is threatening to replace it. At its core is a rejection of liberal economics, a questioning of urban economic policy, and a desire to reorganise our city economies: social justice and environmental sustainability are not just hopes […]

The Trump Administration Needs to Consider These Factors When Reviewing National Defense

The Trump Administration Needs to Consider These Factors When Reviewing National Defense

IJR Opinion is an opinion platform and any opinions or information put forth by contributors are exclusive to them and do not represent the views of IJR.

Last month, President Trump ordered a review of the national defense industrial base. The topic often gets interest on the Hill, and occasionally from secretaries of defense, but this effort marks the first major executive review.

This necessary effort will assess the means of wartime production, ability to produce in times of crises, and possible supply chain disruptions – domestically or internationally. Conversations with administration officials indicate the purpose is a strategic study of […]

Is Skynet really coming for our jobs?

Cross-posted from Independent Australia :

It’s almost scary to think that the world as we know it may well be run by Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) one day.

While the risk of an imminent AI disruption of the labour market may sound like a fantasy, those with the most advanced AI technologies at hand think that AI is an imminent threat. They say an Industry 4.0 or cyber physical systems ( CPS ) revolution is coming whether we like it or not. Is this really true?AI in the labour market means the use of intelligent software to […]

The Four Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The Four Challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution

The evolution of global industries to Industry 4.0 (Rev 4.0) is both exciting and scary. Industry 4.0 is the designated code name for a combination of traditional manufacturing practices and industrial processes with technological capabilities, from automation to AI. From factories becoming self-monitoring to delivery vehicles becoming self-driving. Whilst there are many benefits of Industry 4.0, there are several key challenges that lie ahead. Cybersecurity

Having everything attached to everything else in the Internet of things (IoT) is going to monumentally increase the vulnerabilities present in any given network. With more nodes, connections and burden of connectivity, systems are […]

It’s a tough economy for workers without a bachelor’s degree. But it’s better in Minnesota than in a lot of other states.

It’s a tough economy for workers without a bachelor’s degree. But it’s better in Minnesota than in a lot of other states.

Minnesota’s manufacturing sector is more focused on durable goods (goods that last for more than three years) which tend to be more expensive to manufacture and transport than nondurable goods. The 2016 election brought a renewed national focus on the plight of the blue collar worker in the modern American economy. With the bulk of growth in well-paying jobs happening in more skilled sectors, where is the worker without a four-year degree to go to find work?

Minnesota, for one, according to a new report from researchers at Georgetown University’s Center On Education and the Workforce , which ranked Minnesota […]