Tag: productivity

Where do good jobs come from?

Where do good jobs come from?

Around the world this May Day, policy proposals that would have appeared radical just a few years ago are now on the agenda. In the United States, for example, high marginal tax rates, wealth taxes, and single-payer health care have become mainstream ideas. Yet unless policymakers get their priorities right, the opportunity for meaningful reform could be squandered, leading to even deeper social and political divisions.

In fact, while the reforms that are needed are radical and sweeping, they are not the ones currently in vogue. The top priority should be creating high-wage jobs, and this goal should guide policymakers’ […]

Where Do Good Jobs Come From?

Where Do Good Jobs Come From?

Aleksandar Georgiev/Getty Images Many regard the falloff in the creation of high-wage jobs as the inevitable result of advances in artificial intelligence and robotics. It isn’t. Technology can be used either to displace labor or to enhance worker productivity.

CAMBRIDGE – Around the world this May Day, policy proposals that would have appeared radical just a few years ago are now on the agenda. In the United States, for example, high marginal tax rates, wealth taxes, and single-payer health care have become mainstream ideas. Yet unless policymakers get their priorities right, the opportunity for meaningful reform could be squandered, leading […]

Amazon Used An AI to Automatically Fire Low-Productivity Workers

Amazon Used An AI to Automatically Fire Low-Productivity Workers

Automation Station

This time, artificial intelligence is literally taking jobs.

Documents obtained by The Verge show how Amazon used a computer system to automatically track and fire hundreds of fulfillment center employees between for failing to meet productivity quotas — a grim glimpse of a future in which AI is your boss.While not every decision was made by a computer system, the documents — including a signed letter by an Amazon attorney describing the system — reveal how deeply automated the process really is. It’s not clear whether Amazon is still using the system.“Amazon’s system tracks the rates of each […]

The AI revolution

The AI revolution

Image: U1208 Lab at Inserm, which studies cognitive sciences and robot-human communication. A number of emotions can be reproduced with Reeti using an interface that is easy to use by medical staff to encourage communication with autistic children. Children with autistic disorders concentrate more with a robot who can endlessly, and without getting bored, repeat attitudes that represent easily identifiable emotions. (BSIP/UIG via Getty) Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way we work and live.

The most obvious example of this is when it’s used to automate tasks that have previously done by humans.

But, as Daron Acemoglu points out, ‘as automation […]

Robot redundancy: four future scenarios for Kiwis’ jobs

Robot redundancy: four future scenarios for Kiwis' jobs

We’ve long been hearing about the threat of "robot redundancy" – and just whose jobs are at risk of automation.

Fewer than 5 per cent of jobs can be done entirely through automation today – and researchers have thrown out wildly varying forecasts how this might soon change.

One headline-grabbing study from Oxford University, suggesting that 47 per cent of all employment in the US was at risk of being replaced by computers and algorithms in the next 20 years, appeared overblown when set against findings of a forensic OECD investigation.Of the 21 advanced nations that report looked at, only 9 […]

Pete Buttigieg Trivializes the Impact of Trade on US Job Losses

Pete Buttigieg Trivializes the Impact of Trade on US Job Losses

Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks with attendees during a campaign stop at Stonyfield Farms in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on April 19, 2019. Scott Eisen / Getty Images In his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, Pete Buttigieg has been telling audiences that the U.S. lost six times as many jobs due to automation than trade from 2000 to 2010, according to The Washington Post . This is literally true, but for all practical purposes it is a very big lie.

The way in which it is true is that we always lose jobs to “automation,” which is known to […]

Businesses adopting digital tech to provide better customer experience: Report

Businesses adopting digital tech to provide better customer experience: Report

Digital transformation also open door to new business opportunities, thus creating employment NEW DELHI: Today, India is at the cusp of digital transformation. With nearly 500 million internet users and roughly 340 million smartphone users in 2018, the digital wave is touching the lives of millions of people, shaping them into a digitally empowered society.

According to a new report by AIMA and KPMG on the ‘Socio Economic Impact of Digital Transformation, businesses are adopting digital technologies to achieve higher operational efficiencies and provide better customer experience.

Technology start-ups have further accelerated the trend by disrupting the traditional industries through innovative […]

Editorial: Too many can’t afford to buy healthy food

It has been known for some time that certain foods are linked to ailments such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and a variety of cancers. Red meat, processed meat and products high in saturated fat such as cream top the list.

With this in mind, Health Canada has issued a new Food Guide, which places more emphasis on fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

The problem is that half of the working-class families in our country say they either cannot afford such a diet or would find it a struggle. And their concern is understandable.The price of vegetables is forecast to […]

Will Robots Completely Replace the Labor Force in Future Rapid Machining Industry?

Will Robots Completely Replace the Labor Force in Future Rapid Machining Industry?

With the advancement of Robotics in recent years, will they become a cheaper alternative to a human labor force? Robotics ( Newswire.net — April 18, 2019) — With the accelerated development of artificial intelligence and 3D printing, robots will expand to all corners of the rapid machining , covering the industry sector is not limited to services, technology and technology work is not spared. Then when people lose their jobs, their income is also deprived.

AI and Robots will Replace Humans after their High Development Earlier, a British broadcaster had reported that French socialist Benoit Hamon won the 29th […]

Future of work about much more than technology, automation: Report

Future of work about much more than technology, automation: Report

Employers must prepare for broader trends impacting labour market – including a possible rise in wildfires, floods and mudslides Calgary endured its heaviest flood in decades in 2013. A new report from the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship says employers need to prepare for more natural disasters in the future. Reuters/Andy Clark/File Photo

When predicting the future, employers have much more to worry about than technological change and automation, according to a new report by the Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Toronto.

Demographic change, environmental sustainability, political uncertainty and globalization are all factors employers must consider when forecasting […]