Tag: productivity

‘Numerous jobs and professions will change’: up to six million could be lost from automation

'Numerous jobs and professions will change': up to six million could be lost from automation

Unemployment could spike by up to 2.5 per cent as a result of the expected automation of up to 46 per cent of jobs in Australia by 2030, a new report has warned.

McKinsey Australia says that left to its own devices, automation could see Australia’s unemployment rate rise without retraining for people whose jobs are lost.

"Without retraining for vulnerable workers, especially administrative and manual workers and those in vulnerable regions, income inequality could widen by up to 30 per cent," the report says.Demand would increase for workers in unpredictable and interactive roles including nursing, care giving and sales, but […]

Online Exclusive: Robotics become integrated in the agricultural industry

Online Exclusive: Robotics become integrated in the agricultural industry

Elizabeth Kaiser graphic Industry practitioners and faculty teamed up to lead a discussion on how automation is revolutionizing the agriculture industry and what southwestern Wisconsin can do to capitalize on it. The panelists shared their experiences and opinions regarding the impact of automation on traditional labor-intensive agriculture, the nation’s workforce and economy, the challenges to overcome and the future-prospects of robotics in agriculture.

The panel included special speakers: Craig Hendrickson, School of Agriculture, UW-Platteville; Brian Peckham, School of Business, UW-Platteville; Tera Montgomery, School of Agriculture, UW-Platteville; Kevin Bernhardt, School of Agriculture, UW-Platteville; Jake Rueth, Dairy Science Major, UW-Platteville; Christina Winch, […]

Call $15 minimum wage what it is: the robot full employment act

Call $15 minimum wage what it is: the robot full employment act

The Cloud Pepper robot, which can speak multiple languages, appears at a tech conference in Barcelona on Monday. (Getty Images) Thirty-plus years ago, I became (nerd alert) fascinated with economics and read up on libertarian-conservatives like Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell and liberals like John Kenneth Galbraith and Paul Samuelson. It was captivating to see how they marshaled seemingly powerful evidence for and against policy proposals, only starting with whether heavy government spending could spur growth of the economy. I would read academics on one side and think of course they’re right, then read the other side and reach […]

Rethinking the job paradigm: Need increased focus on developing ‘mass services’ as driver of growth

Rethinking the job paradigm: Need increased focus on developing ‘mass services’ as driver of growth

As we enter the fourth industrial revolution, we have to necessarily ‘reboot’ our models if we have to deliver jobs with growth

Since the industrial revolution in the mid 19th century, countries have followed the twin strategies of manufacturing growth and merchandise exports to create millions of new jobs. (Representational photo) Jobs has become the ‘hottest’ political battle as the Lok Sabha elections approaches, as media reports on jobs data from the NSSO survey, and earlier in 2017 from the labour ministry survey of establishments, point towards job-less growth. While the government has raised questions on the accuracy of […]

Yes, automation can destroy jobs… but it can also create them

Yes, automation can destroy jobs... but it can also create them

Technological change is key to improved productivity, which is desperately needed in Northern Ireland In recent years, we have become accustomed to seeing doomsday headlines predicting the rise of the robots and the end of work as we know it.

It sounds like the premise of a low-budget science fiction movie, but for many, the forward march of technology is a very worrying prospect.

The first thing to be said is that the current climate of concern surrounding automation technologies and robots is nothing new.Since the dawn of the industrial revolution, technological advancements have been introduced into the production process in […]

Minimum Wage Boosts Are Great—For Robots

Minimum Wage Boosts Are Great—For Robots

In recent weeks, Illinois mandated a huge increase in the state minimum wage, Pennsylvania’s governor proposed to double his state’s minimum wage, and New Mexico lawmakers moved forward with a plan to raise the minimum wage there, too. Hiking the cost of labor is a popular cause once again—even among people who’ve demonstrated in the past that they know perfectly well this is a recipe for limiting opportunity and trapping people in poverty.

It’s tempting to say that people are actually getting stupider about economics. But maybe, instead, it’s all part of a conspiracy by robots who are poised to […]

Are Robots Competing for Your Job?

Are Robots Competing for Your Job?

Doomsayers insist that this time the employment apocalypse is really nigh. The robots are coming. Hide the WD-40. Lock up your nine-volt batteries. Build a booby trap out of giant magnets; dig a moat as deep as a grave. “Ever since a study by the University of Oxford predicted that 47 percent of U.S. jobs are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence over the next fifteen to twenty years, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the future of work,” Andrés Oppenheimer writes, in “The Robots Are Coming: The Future of Jobs in the […]

Can Artificial Intelligence Steal your Job? Perhaps Not Rather Modify

Can Artificial Intelligence Steal your Job? Perhaps Not Rather Modify

Though some forms of AI shows its cleverness, it would be impractical to assume that current AI counterparts human intelligence.

If the murmur around Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made you nervous that it will soon displace your job as the technology works more promptly than human brain. But the truth is that AI actually empowers workers to centre on higher-level thinking and crafting. This is not a hindrance; rather it is needed for a workplace. Currently, AI is providing human intelligence all over the continuum from banking to media.

AI consists of software tools which are used to solve problems. […]

Ready to work with a smart robot? Some Dayton workers already are

Ready to work with a smart robot? Some Dayton workers already are

The rapid growth of artificial intelligence and automation presents threats — and opportunities — for workers and businesses in the Miami Valley.

More than 31,600 people in the Dayton metro area work in the five largest occupations at high risk of automation, according to data the Brookings Institution prepared exclusively for the Dayton Daily News. Those jobs include food preparation, waiters, stock clerks, tractor-trailer truck drivers and accounting clerks.

But about 34,600 people in the region that includes Montgomery, Greene and Miami counties work in the largest low-risk occupations. Those include registered nurses, freight and stock movers, janitors, customer service representatives […]

Automation and what it means for jobs and new skills in SA

Automation and what it means for jobs and new skills in SA

The world as we know it is on the brink of a revolution, driven by emerging technologies that are set to fundamentally alter our lives in unprecedented and unanticipated ways, says Tebogo Moalusi , industrial relations director at Workforce Staffing.

This shift to Industry 4.0, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, hinges off the increasing pervasiveness of digitisation.

As machines become more ‘intelligent’ and capable of learning, they are able to perform more and more tasks that were previously not possible. While this opens up many possibilities, it also means that the job landscape will become a very different place.As […]