Tag: manufactur

Invest in These Companies and You Won’t Need a Job

Invest in These Companies and You Won’t Need a Job

This week our focus is on resources . For good reason too. Our colleague, Jason Stevenson is our in-house resource specialist. And this week he released some incredible research about ‘Gigastocks’.

These are a new kind of stock, which he believes have the potential to increase more than 10,000%.

Now we know that might sound too incredible to be true. That was our initial reaction too. But we know the dedication Jason has to his research. And after seeing some of the research he’s put behind this Gigastocks project…well let’s just say we you’d be crazy if you didn’t at least […]

DYER: The grand experiment — universal basic income

DYER: The grand experiment — universal basic income

Gwynne Dyer is an independent journalist whose articles are published in 45 countries. There’s a new idea that might be the solution to runaway populism. Well, it’s not that new, really — it has been kicking around in left-wing circles for a least a quarter-century — but it has suddenly gone mainstream. It’s called Universal Basic Income (UBI), and pilot programs to see if it really works in practice are being launched this year in four different countries.

It’s populism that gave us Brexit in Britain and President Donald Trump in the United States. It could soon give us President […]

Driverless trucks: economic tsunami may swallow one of most common US jobs

Driverless trucks: economic tsunami may swallow one of most common US jobs

In April 2016, Uber announced the acquisition of Otto, a San Francisco-based startup that has developed a kit that can turn any big rig into a self-driving truck .

The Otto technology enables complete autonomy on highways: trucks can navigate, stay in their lane, and slow or stop in response to traffic conditions completely without human intervention. Otto’s equipment currently costs about $30,000, but that is certain to fall significantly in the coming years.

Otto is by no means alone. Massive automated vehicles are already commonly used to move materials for the Australian mining industry. Daimler, the German multinational company, has […]

The résumé is dead: your next click might determine your next job

The résumé is dead: your next click might determine your next job

The rise of ever more intelligent machines is prompting much speculation about the future of work and a clear separation of views is becoming apparent. Some claim that automation is likely to lead to job losses and that we should prepare for that. Others argue that the new technologies will create as many jobs as they destroy: after all, that is what has happened in the past.

Those – like Donald Trump – who argue they can “bring back the jobs” presume a return, or reinvention, of an almost mythical past where manufacturing dominated the economy and the big firms […]

AI: Boon to business, bane to low-skilled workers

AI: Boon to business, bane to low-skilled workers

VIDEO CONFERENCE ON TECH VISION. JP Palpallatoc, Accenture PH digital lead, discusses his company’s technology vision for 2017 in a video conference with Cebu’s business reporters held at Accenture’s office in I.T. Park, Barangay Apas, Cebu City. (CDN PHOTO/JUNJIE MENDOZA) As artificial intelligence (AI) moves to the forefront of business operations in the Philippines, the workforce needs to learn more complex skills to cushion the risk of losing jobs to automation.

JP Palpallatoc, Accenture Philippines digital lead, said that with the rise of AI comes the risk of employment reduction, especially among those with lower-level skills.

“We need to move those […]

What happens when robots take our jobs?

What happens when robots take our jobs?

Technologies such as big data , advanced analytics, the Internet of things , wearables, advanced robotics, learning machines and 3D printing are finding their way into factories.

Despite the sluggishness of change on today’s factory floors, this digital wave is slowly but surely revolutionizing manufacturing , contributing to major productivity enhancements and the emergence of innovative production paradigms that deliver more tailored and efficient solutions.

Needless to say, this transformation has profound implications for manufacturing employment, affecting everything from the size of the workforce, to the skillsets required and the locations of factories. Will this fourth Industrial Revolution lead to a […]

The Trade Red Herring

Trade policy is a hot button political issue, and it’s also one of the biggest distractions. It’s often said that politics makes strange bedfellows. Both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump believe that U.S. trade policy is largely to blame for the hollowing out of high paying, working class jobs. However, the data suggests otherwise.

Let me acknowledge at the outset that I have a vested economic interest in supporting free trade (I am, however, genuinely supportive of it but do recognize that there are also costs to free trade which trade policy should address). My skateboard and skate apparel business, […]

It’s Not Automation, It’s the Trade Deficit

It’s Not Automation, It’s the Trade Deficit

This kid is clearly skeptical of robots. But don’t blame them — or automation — for manufacturing job loss in the United States. | Photo by John Martin A common refrain in economic commentary on the nature of work, and the changes in manufacturing employment, is basically:

“Trade didn’t take those jobs. It was robots. The robots did it!”

Okay, maybe it’s not the terminators who are doing it. Rather, it’s industrial automation: We make more stuff with less people, because manufacturing is now performed by automated processes. This idea is breezily inserted into all kinds of articles, including ones with […]

1.3 Million Jobs Created By Closing Trade Deficit Says Think Tank

1.3 Million Jobs Created By Closing Trade Deficit Says Think Tank

Trade pressure and faltering U.S. competitiveness, not automation was the main reason the U.S. lost 5.7 million manufacturing jobs between 2000 and 2010, according to a new report from the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF).

“We keep hearing from economists and pundits that the United States has lost the bulk of its manufacturing jobs to automation, so there’s nothing we can do to get them back. But that’s simply not true,” said Adams Nager, ITIF’s economic policy analyst and the report’s author.

“It’s time to stop blaming manufacturing job losses solely on robots and start recognizing the impact of […]

New exhibition addresses the blurring of the lines between humanity and the digital world

New exhibition addresses the blurring of the lines between humanity and the digital world

As computers get creative, a new exhibition addresses the blurring of the lines between humanity and the digital world, writes Jonathan deBurca Butler. Last year, Google hosted a charity auction in San Francisco. Up for grabs were 29 works of art. The prices commanded were unexceptional, the most expensive piece sold for just $8,000. In normal circumstances the event may well have got lost in the mists of time. Only, there was something altogether unusual about the work on show. It was all created by computers.

The paintings, described as looking like a computer’s dreams, were created through a process […]