Tag: productivity

Basic income can’t do enough to help workers displaced by technology

Basic income can’t do enough to help workers displaced by technology

A driverless truck being tested in Russia in 2018. The October Democratic presidential debate featured something that many activists would have considered impossible just a few years ago: a lengthy debate between leading presidential candidates about a universal basic income , a policy that would give all l adult Americans a basic cash benefit every month.

Andrew Yang , the nonprofit chief and entrepreneur who is currently polling ahead of senators like Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar, has made a $1,000-per-month basic income for everyone between the ages of 18 and 64 — which he calls a “Freedom Dividend” […]

India’s unemployment problem may worsen as robots snatch away jobs

India’s unemployment problem may worsen as robots snatch away jobs

With prices falling thanks to China scaling up, mid-sized companies here are now able to afford robots, and they have gradually begun to displace humans on factory shopfloors

A decade back, Vienna-based Wienerberger, the world’s largest brick-maker, decided to take its first step into Asia and chose India over China. It spent ₹250 crore in building a factory in Kunigal village, 70 kilometres to the west of Bengaluru, next to a dry lake rich in clay. Today, the plant produces 70,000 blocks of hollow, chocolate-smooth blocks a day, the equivalent of 6 lakh conventional bricks.

Wienerberger India’s building block […]

Andrew Yang, Snake Oil Salesman

Andrew Yang, Snake Oil Salesman

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks at the New Hampshire Democratic Party state convention in Manchester, September 7, 2019. Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and gadfly, has definitely cleared the bar for a successful cause candidate.

Not only has he exceeded expectations for his polling and fundraising, not only has he developed a cult following, not only has he got people talking about his signature idea, the universal basic income, he actually has other candidates expressing openness to it.

It’s too bad that Yang’s idea is a foolish response to a non-problem. Worse, Yang is trying to persuade people to fear and oppose […]

Andrew Yang’s (phantom) robot menace

Andrew Yang’s (phantom) robot menace

Enlarge Image Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and gadfly, has definitely cleared the bar for a successful cause candidate.

Not only has he exceeded expectations for his polling and fundraising, not only has he developed a cult following, not only has he got people talking about his signature idea, the universal basic income, he actually has other candidates expressing openness to it.

It’s too bad that Yang’s idea is a foolish response to a non-problem. Worse, Yang is trying to convince people to fear and oppose something that we need more of and that is a key to economic progress and […]

Andrew Yang Is Full of It

Andrew Yang Is Full of It

Andrew Yang’s dystopian warnings about automation and mass unemployment have mostly been a quirky and harmless sideshow throughout this year’s Democratic primary. Like many tech types and TED Talk fans, the former businessman believes that the United States is living through an age of technological upheaval that has already devastated manufacturing work and will soon render millions of other jobs obsolete. His plan to address this grim future is to offer every American a $1,000 per month basic income—he calls it a “freedom dividend”—which he hopes will prevent society from unraveling as everyone from truckers to doctors see their […]

Automation: A threat for RMG workers or an opportunity for the sector as a whole?

Automation: A threat for RMG workers or an opportunity for the sector as a whole?

An automated spreading machine at Pacific Jeans. Photo: WSJ The fourth industrial revolution is under way and bringing with it a series of upheavals—robotics, automation, machine learning, and artificial intelligence are gradually making their way into the production process all over the world. However, such major breakthroughs in the production process will have negative effects on the job market and the Bangladesh economy, as the introduction of machinery in the production process has a higher probability of affecting unskilled and semi-skilled workers adversely compared to skilled workers. According to the government’s a2i project and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), […]

Saagar Enjeti praises Yang for bringing threat of automation to forefront at Ohio debate

Opinion by: Saagar Enjeti

A bitter debate has erupted online, and for once, it’s actually substantive and relevant to all our lives.

As I touched on yesterday, all credit for this discussion goes to presidential candidate Andrew Yang for bringing the issue of job loss to the forefront of the debate stage and getting the entire field to debate universal basic income versus a federal jobs guarantee. The battle lines of the stage were most present between Senator Elizabeth Warren and Yang in this section.For most people, this is a pretty wonky area, because their eyes start to glaze over, […]

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

UK 2030

by Victoria Montag, Sector Head, Industrial Automation, GAMBICA Unlike most other people, the question I have been asked the most in job interviews is not “why do you want this job?” Rather, the interviewer, having cast an eye over my qualifications, would enquire why I decided to study classics alongside physics, chemistry and maths at A-level.

I used to like this question, it was as if my choice, made aged 16 so as not be placed completely into the “science” camp, made me somehow special. Now that I am older, I realise that I’m probably not.There is […]

Why Is Andrew Yang So Afraid of Automation?

Why Is Andrew Yang So Afraid of Automation?

Win McNamee/Getty Images Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and gadfly, has definitely cleared the bar for a successful cause candidate.

Not only has he exceeded expectations for his polling and fundraising, not only has he developed a cult following, not only has he got people talking about his signature idea, the universal basic income, he actually has other candidates expressing openness to it, as we saw during the debate Tuesday night. This is how an idea enters the bloodstream, and at least gets a chance at widespread acceptance.

It’s too bad that Yang’s idea is a foolish response to a nonproblem. […]

What’s the manufacturing job killer, automation or trade?

What’s the manufacturing job killer, automation or trade?

Elizabeth Warren and Andrew Yang differed on the impact of trade and automation on jobs. ((AP Photo/John Minchillo) The Democratic debate in Ohio stirred up a heated exchange on a basic economic question: Did robots hollow out American manufacturing?

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has said that blaming job losses on automation is a myth, and CNN’s Erin Burnett pressed her to explain why workers in Ohio shouldn’t be worried.

"We have had a lot of problems with losing jobs, but the principal reason is bad trade policy," Warren said. "The principal reason has been a bunch of giant multinational corporations who […]