Tag: mobility

When robots take jobs, workers deserve compensation

When robots take jobs, workers deserve compensation

The largely forgotten fate of London’s watermen, who ferried passengers on the Thames for centuries before faster forms of transport stole their jobs, would seem of marginal relevance today. But the lessons of the past can often inform the decisions of the future. And as we fret about the rise of robots and the impact of artificial intelligence, the history of London’s water taxis can teach us something about how to ease disruption caused by new technologies. For many years, London’s watermen were the most numerous workers in the city. But complaints about their abusive practices forced parliament to […]

Thread: More on job loss due to automation

Thread: More on job loss due to automation

> Rep Power Perhaps your points aren’t as convincing as you imagine.

For example, I can’t think of a reason why if I had a factory with 20 high skilled workers making widgets and I invented a machine that would replace all of them with one guy pushing a button, that one guy pushing a button would get paid 20x what those skilled workers got paid. My bet is he’d make less than one of them made. Regardless of the productivity. As far as productivity and wealth to the particular nation (in our case the US), it really […]

America faces catastrophic employment numbers

America faces catastrophic employment numbers

Americans continue to drop out of the labour market as employment numbers reach catastrophic levels, warned a panel of experts. The economy has lost a staggering percentage of its workforce over the decades. The number of people employed or looking for work as a percentage of the population sits at only 62,7 percent. Experts warned during the panel discussion that the numbers show a quiet catastrophe.

“I’m not trying to be hyperbolic in describing this as a quiet catastrophe or calamity,” American Enterprise Institute Economist Nicholas Eberstadt said.

“From 1965 to the present we’ve seen a really wrenching decline in employment […]

America Faces Catastrophic Employment Numbers

America Faces Catastrophic Employment Numbers

We’re Hiring sign (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File) Americans continue to drop out of the labor market as employment numbers reach catastrophic levels, warned a panel of experts Thursday.

The economy has lost a staggering percentage of its workforce over the decades. The number of people employed or looking for work as a percentage of the population sits at only 62.7 percent. Experts warned during the panel discussion that the numbers show a quiet catastrophe.

“I’m not trying to be hyperbolic in describing this as a quiet catastrophe or calamity,” American Enterprise Institute Economist Nicholas Eberstadt said. “From 1965 to the present […]

Will Trump Bring the Robot Apocalypse?

Will Trump Bring the Robot Apocalypse?

In which we learn that Trump may entrust the well-being of working Americans to someone who wants to eliminate them altogether. (Photo: Shutterstock) The future was supposed to bring prosperity and leisure to working people, not joblessness and misery. But that was before the money guys took over.

This week Amazon announced that it’s planning to open a grocery store that has no cashiers or checkout lines. The corporation said that customers would be able to download an app, link their phones to electronic shopping carts that track the items they take from the shelves, then simply walk out with […]

Jobs For All

Jobs For All

Line for unemployment benefits in San Francisco, CA in 1938. Dorothea Lange / Library of Congress The new issue of Jacobin is out now. To mark its release, we’re offering discounted introductory subscriptions . ull Employment . . . has become an aim of Conservative policy and the strongest argument against socialist critics.” That’s famed economist Joan Robinson, in 1962 trolling to her left and her right. British unemployment had been below 2 percent for most of the period since the war, without runaway inflation. Keynes had solved the problem of unemployment, converted the Conservatives, and stolen the communists’ […]

Will Robots Make Our Jobs Obsolete?

Will Robots Make Our Jobs Obsolete?

Advances in artificial intelligence , machine learning and robotics are taking over jobs that are repetitive, predictable and sometimes dangerous for people to do. The impact of automation on society depends on how fast it occurs—and how quickly displaced workers transition to other forms of employment .

“What most people don’t realize is the labor market has always evolved over time. Recent advances in artificial intelligence have the potential to accelerate the rate of change ,” says Jerry Kaplan , futurist and author of the book “Artificial Intelligence: What Everyone Needs to Know.”

“There will be plenty of work,” he adds. […]

Trump’s Dismantling of Trade Deals Won’t Bring Most Jobs Back

Trump’s Dismantling of Trade Deals Won’t Bring Most Jobs Back

Trump in Charleston, West Virginia on May 5. Dramatic promises to restrict international trade were a signature element of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. So far, he seems to be following through. On Tuesday, he announced that he will withdraw U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership as one of his first acts in office.

Trump’s aggressive stance on trade helped him win working-class voters in Midwestern manufacturing states, where upset wins swept him into the White House. As president, Trump will be able to act on trade without approval by Congress. Both the U.S. Constitution and past acts of Congress give […]

Technology is exacerbating unemployment and wage stagnation – and it’s set to only get worse

Technology is exacerbating unemployment and wage stagnation – and it's set to only get worse

In Silicon Valley, only 1.8 per cent of workers are employed in new industries For most people, a secure, fairly paid job is the difference between a reasonable life and destitution. Today changes in the structure of the work force make this objective increasingly elusive.

Technology exacerbated declines in employment and incomes by eliminating certain tasks and deskilling many jobs. Robotics and complex computerised equipment successfully replaced often skilled labour. Computer software is now replacing journalists being able to synthesise news items electronically up crawling the worldwide web. Even traders in financial markets are being replaced by automated algorithms.

In the […]

Automation is not the end of the world. Here’s why

Automation is not the end of the world. Here’s why

Robots probably will take our jobs. That doesn’t have to be bad news For many people worldwide, the answer is unemployment. Work is not just what allows us to sustain ourselves and our families: it expands our possibilities to be and do what we aspire to; it gives meaning and rhythm to our endeavours as part of a broader social contract. This is why in times of “polycrisis” and broader economic transformations, we dread losing what we hold so dear to a presumed automation apocalypse. What are people most worried about? Note: Representative sample of adults aged 16-64. September […]