Tag: productivity

The robots are coming for your job, too

The robots are coming for your job, too

The robots. They’re coming for your jobs. All of you. (CNN) — The robots. They’re coming for your jobs . All of you.

Long the prediction of futurists and philosophers, the lived reality of technology replacing human work has been a constant feature since the cotton gin, the assembly line and, more recently, the computer.

What is very much up for debate in the imaginations of economists and Hollywood producers is whether the future will look like "The Terminator," with self-aware Schwarzenegger bots on the hunt, or "The Jetsons," with obedient robo-maids leaving us humans very little work and plenty of […]

The robots are coming for your job, too

The robots are coming for your job, too

Long the prediction of futurists and philosophers, the lived reality of technology replacing human work has been a constant feature since the cotton gin, the assembly line and, more recently, the computer.

What is very much up for debate in the imaginations of economists and Hollywood producers is whether the future will look like "The Terminator," with self-aware Schwarzenegger bots on the hunt, or "The Jetsons," with obedient robo-maids leaving us humans very little work and plenty of time for leisure and family. The most chilling future in film may be that in Disney’s "Wall-E," where people are all too […]

Labour pains: our rapidly changing workplace

Labour pains: our rapidly changing workplace

While Australian manufacturing never fully recovered from that tumult, the US, at least, had Apple and Microsoft leading the charge as its manufacturing base atrophied, with “Silicon Valley” now a byword for the digital economy. Australia continued, largely, to live off the back of a mining boom driven by China’s historic economic expansion, while investment in innovation lagged, and today is half that of countries like the US and Germany.

We hear a lot about the jobs of the future, usually from American media outlets gushing out a range of blue-sky predictions. What’s the next big thing? What will […]

It’s time to embrace a global revolution in automation

It’s time to embrace a global revolution in automation

WELL PREPARED: The media and gatekeepers of new digital technologies must work together to educate the public. With many finding the rise of automation and artificial intelligence unnerving, it’s important to make education key in alleviating fears

THE concept of widespread automation can seem frightening, somewhat dystopian even, bringing out our internal luddites to protest against something that is seen to be harmful to our future.
The truth is that automation is here and has been for many years; the difference is in how it is approached and is informed by lessons of past industrial revolutions.
“We can call automation […]

History Predicts the Consequences of Today’s Digital Revolution

History Predicts the Consequences of Today’s Digital Revolution

The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation In The Technology Trap: Capital, Labor, and Power in the Age of Automation , Carl Benedikt Frey offers a sweeping history of automation from the Industrial Revolution to the current digital age. The Oxford University economist argues that while labor-replacing technologies generate progress in the long run, these advances often have devastating consequences for much of the working population during their lifetimes.

Economists, he proposes, tend to analyze technological history by the fruits it bears us now, rather than the pain it caused in the past. This penchant […]

Focus on quality of jobs being created – here’s how

Focus on quality of jobs being created – here’s how

The push to agriculture allied sectors will be beneficial to absorb the labour moving out of the agricultural sector in the rural areas. One of the major challenges for the government in the new term would be to create suitable jobs. According to the latest PLFS (Periodic Labour Force Survey), the unemployment rate in the country is at a 45-year high, at 6.1%. Although a lot of debate has gone into the level of unemployment in the overall economy, there is no denying the fact that there is an urgent need to create more jobs to truly benefit from […]

SEEK boss warns mid-level jobs will disappear

Middle-ranking jobs are the ones disappearing, he said.

"My theory, and I hope I’m wrong, is that once there is a downturn there will be a justification to automate roles rather than re-hire people," Mr Bassat said.

Mr Bassat said he was particularly worried about the kinds of "unoriginal businesses" which dominate the Australian economy, singling out the big banks which are all laying off staff.National Australia Bank has committed to a $1 billion cost-cutting drive, aiming to reduce headcount by 2000 a year for three years, whereas Commonwealth Bank is expected to shed about 4000 roles from asset sales alone, […]

Manufacturing shrinks, raising questions for Trump

The risks of an economic recession are on the rise, but the country’s manufacturing sector is already there.

And for President Trump , who promised to end the “American carnage” of “rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation,” that could be political trouble.

The manufacturing sector shrunk by 1.9 percent in the first quarter of the year, and another 1.2 percent in the second quarter. In July, it is estimated that it contracted 0.4 percent. A recession occurs when an economy contracts in two consecutive quarters.Trump won the Electoral College and White House by becoming the first […]

The robots are coming — but take a breath

The robots are coming — but take a breath

While automation and robots will displace millions of jobs, it’ll most likely create millions more.

Our current round of technological unemployment might just be a transitionary phase.

The fear of automation has been around for decades. Automation, and the rise of robots with superior AI promises to bring about a new era of industry and civilization. Our wildest sci-fi dreams could be realized within the century. Yet, the clamor and hoopla surrounding the topic has been overwhelmingly pessimistic – bordering on neo-luddism at times. That is, the fear is that advancements in automation, artificial intelligence and robotics will […]

Automation creates jobs, increases productivity at Nova Scotia companies

Automation creates jobs, increases productivity at Nova Scotia companies

News release

Six Nova Scotian steel and aluminum companies benefit from advanced manufacturing machinery, robotics and modernization

Canadian steel and aluminum companies that embrace automated machining are reducing waste, better utilizing skilled labour, increasing production quality and providing good jobs for Canadians. The Steel and Aluminum Initiative, announced in March 2019, will help steel and aluminum manufacturing businesses grow and modernize thanks to new automated technologies.Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced contributions totaling $2,479,501 to six steel and aluminum manufacturers in Nova Scotia. The announcement was made on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister […]