Tag: productivity

Human impact: Role of workers with robotics

Human impact: Role of workers with robotics

A manufacturer that saves money on labor by using automation can increase investments and demand and create more opportunity for employment. Factory floor workers can manage tasks that require skills that automation cannot replicate, leading to further innovation. Courtesy: TM Robotics Not every food manufacturer is an automation convert, despite the opportunities. The food manufacturing industry tends to fall into two camps: Those who see automation as an opportunity to improve processes and a smaller minority who perceive it as a threat to business.

Considering the widespread data that proves the potential productivity rewards of automation, why are some manufacturers […]

Fourth Industrial Revolution set to overturn Australian business

There is a concerning lack of readiness for technological change amongst Australian organisations, with most business leaders unprepared for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), the convergence of the physical, digital and biological worlds, according to a new report by KPMG Digital Delta. Large organisations predict a “very high impact” due to new technologies.

Less than half of business leaders feel their organisation is strongly prepared for change.

Two-thirds of those surveyed aren’t confident their staff have the necessary skills. The Fourth Industrial Revolution Benchmark Report, produced in collaboration with global analytics platform Faethm, surveyed 198 Australian business leaders, gauging […]

Is Automation Causing Economic Disparity?

Is Automation Causing Economic Disparity?

The utilization of both industrial and service robots has been increasing quickly during the past decade. There is little uncertainty this is leading to changes in income imbalance. Automation replaces tasks recently performed by low-skill labor, however, it likewise makes new tasks, generally more highly talented. Automation clarifies, to some degree, the poor labour market performance of low-talented laborers in cutting edge economies since 2000.

The total level of wages related with jobs that have the technical potential to be automated in the UK is £290 billion every year, which speaks to 33% everything being equal and income from labor […]

Telephone Switchboard Operators: Rise and Fall

Telephone Switchboard Operators: Rise and Fall

In 1950, there were 342,000 telephone switchboard operators working for the Bell Telephone System and some independent operators, as well as another 1 million or so telephone switchboard operators who worked at private locations like office buildings, factories, hotels, and apartment buildings.

Almost all of these switchboard operators were female. To put it another way, about one out of every 13 working women in 1950 were telephone operators. But by 1984, national employment as an operator in the telecommunications industry was down to 40,000, and now it’s less than 2,000 (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

David […]

AI and related technologies: Are we creating a new age Bhasmasur?

AI and related technologies: Are we creating a new age Bhasmasur?

“We see debates about humans vs. machines and questions about when machines will become more intelligent than human beings, speculation over whether they’ll keep us around as pets or just conclude we were actually a bad idea and eliminate us” – Joichi Ito, EI

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Many of us may remember the story of Bhasmasur. For those who haven’t a clue what I am talking about, the story (as I remember it) goes that one of the ambitious ‘Asurs’ did severe penance to win the blessings of Lord Shiva. Pleased with his devotion, Lord Shiva appeared and blessed him with a […]

Will Automation Lead to Mass Unemployment?

Will Automation Lead to Mass Unemployment?

Recent advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence have some experts worrying about the coming obsolescence of the human worker. Some are even calling for a universal basic income provided by the government for everyone, under the assumption that work will become scarce. But economists seem to have a pretty different view from the futurist and Silicon Valley types.

One of the reasons that economists are skeptical is because much of the fear that has recently been stoked in the media is familiar. Every few decades, predictions about the “end of work” have pervaded public discourse, and they’ve always been wrong. […]

New technology could lead to ‘reshoring’— bucking the trend towards outsourcing which has dominated the US supply chain for decades.

New technology could lead to 'reshoring'— bucking the trend towards outsourcing which has dominated the US supply chain for decades.

The quest for high productivity with minimal capital has traditionally led US organizations to outsource manufacturing to countries such as China or Mexico, where labor and resources are cheaper, and profits, in turn, can be maximized.

Outsourcing began as a disruptive strategy as far back as the early 18th century, in line with the Industrial Revolution. Technological advancements then meant businesses could begin mass production, but this advantage came at a cost. Companies realized they could retain their structure by outsourcing labor to contractors when demands required.

In the 1970s, however, with the rise of consumer electronics, there was a wide […]

Dystopia ahead at home and world

Dystopia ahead at home and world

The rate of creation of new jobs in the more technologically sophisticated economy was much slower than before, leading to the phenomenon of jobless growth. The current problems of the Indian economy have been aggravated by the government’s refusal to accept the clear body of evidence suggesting an economic slowdown. Hence the government does not seem bothered to tackle the challenges of declining growth, rising inflation, and growing unemployment. While economic growth and inflation can still be addressed by corrective policies, unemployment is a more long-term difficulty that cannot be sorted out by appropriate macroeconomic policies alone. Unemployment is […]

India’s IT industry created more jobs in 2019 than a year ago

India’s IT industry created more jobs in 2019 than a year ago

Do not buy the headlines. At a time when India is struggling with an unprecedented job crisis, at least one industry has not gone slow on hiring.

The nearly $200 billion Indian IT services industry created over 200,000 new jobs in 2019, up from 180,000 a year ago, industry body Nasscom said yesterday (Feb. 12). The sector now has a total workforce of 4.36 million.

Over seven in 10 CEOs believe 2020 will be another year of strong hiring, Nasscom’s survey of over 100 IT leaders found. “This is reflected in offers the industry is already making on campuses,” said Sangeeta […]

The Impact of Security Automation on Hiring Trends

The Impact of Security Automation on Hiring Trends

51% believe that automation will lead to a loss of employment opportunities within the security field

Compiling data drawn from surveys sent out to more than a thousand IT and IT security practitioners within the UK and US, the Ponemon Institute, in collaboration with DomainTools, have recently published their insights in the report titled “Staffing the IT Security Function in the Age of Automation”. Will automation shrink IT security functions’ headcount?

According to the report, more than half of the respondents (51%) believe that automation will lead to a loss of employment opportunities within the security field. This mentality […]