The Robots Stealing Human Jobs – Bring It On

We are bombarded with claims that the robots, the AIs, are about to come and steal all human jobs making us entirely redundant. We thus get calls that this requires an entire overturning of human society and golly gosh the government should be doing more. This is rather to miss Karl Marx’s point of course, which is that if the robots do steal all the jobs, the robots do all the work, then we have the precondition for the arrival of that true communism, something which can only happen when we have beaten the problem of economic scarcity. And […]

Will robots and artificial intelligence take your job?

Will robots and artificial intelligence take your job?

“THEY took our jobs!” say the rednecks in South Park whenever someone “steals” their jobs.

But rather than losing your jobs to immigrants, as the rednecks in South Park belief, the more plausible and larger threat to your employment comes from robots and artificial intelligence (AI).

This trend has not the smallest minds worried. Bill Gates proposes to tax robots which take over people’s jobs to fund government spending.This sounds like a bad idea: taxing investments which improve productivity ultimately benefits society as a whole.Yet the sentiment is understandable, especially as the gains of automation are unlikely to be spread fairly […]

Robots are affecting jobs in Ohio — and maybe politics, too

Robots are affecting jobs in Ohio — and maybe politics, too

WASHINGTON — Robots are playing a bigger role in American manufacturing than ever, and they are spreading rapidly. Yet their impact is playing out differently throughout Ohio.

For example, although Ohio ranks second in the nation for the number of industrial robots in 2015 — 20,415 altogether, according to the Brookings Institution — there are more than three times as many industrial robots on a per-human-worker basis in the Toledo area as in Akron — and as in Cincinnati, Cleveland or Columbus, too.

This has implications for the workforce, for politics and, of course, for the economy. They’re both positive and […]

If we want a post-work future, we need to reconsider what counts as work in the first place

If we want a post-work future, we need to reconsider what counts as work in the first place

30 per cent of UK jobs could potentially be automated away by the early 2030s Work isn’t working anymore. Labour productivity has fallen in the UK since the financial crisis ; 13.5 million people are living in low-income households; real wages are falling and the Gini coefficient, which measures inequality, is rising.

The sustainability and quality of jobs in our economy is also decreasing – 7.1 million workers now face precarious working conditions , meaning that uncertainty (and for many, anxiety) itself is now built into our employment system. According to some estimates , 30 per cent of UK jobs […]

How do we move forward in the ‘new economy’?

How do we move forward in the ‘new economy’?

New laws on free public Internet access (Republic Act [RA] 10929) and free-education tuition (RA 10931) have been getting ample exposure, as the current administration seeks to advance its agenda for inclusive development. While these are notable steps toward efforts to boost prospects for economic growth through enhancing productivity and strengthening competitiveness, there are more significant technological shifts already reshaping our lives at breathtaking speed.

In 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Professor Klaus Schwab has written the book entitled The Fourth Industrial Revolution about the fusion of new technologies in mainstream discussion. He asserts that “there has never been […]

Minimum Wage Hikes and Automation Risks

Minimum Wage Hikes and Automation Risks

A couple years ago, I wrote , Other studies show that an increased minimum wage causes firms to incrementally move toward automation. Now, this too could be seen as a trade-off: automation and technological progress tend to make processes more efficient and therefore increase productivity (and eventually wages ), raising living standards for consumers (which include the poor). Nonetheless, the point is that while unemployment in the short-term may be insignificant, the long-term effects could be much bigger. For example, one study finds that minimum wage hikes lead to lower rates of job growth: about 0.05 percentage points a […]

Australia Needs to Embrace Automation to Survive

Australia Needs to Embrace Automation to Survive

Automation needs to be utilised by Australia if we’re to compete in the global economy.

The automation of the working world is often viewed with a negative run-on effect – people lose their jobs, industries are completely disrupted and robots eventually take over. Technological disruption has created new jobs – social media managers, for example. A recent report refutes all this fear-mongering, however, noting that Australia would actually be better off if we embraced automation rather than shying away from it.

‘The Automation Advantage’, published last week by AlphaBeta and commissioned by Google Australia, argues that automation could be the key […]

Labour force concerns over rise of robots in Asia

Labour force concerns over rise of robots in Asia

Young engineer using a tablet computer to control an automated robot machine in an Asian industrial factory | Zapp2Photo/Shutterstock The old question of whether China would “get old before it becomes rich” is being superseded by an even more pressing calculation.

Will Asian workers become obsolete before they get worthwhile jobs?

Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence are making industrial manufacturing jobs redundant, and with them the classic road map of how a developing economy progresses from peasant agriculture to a self-sustaining, middle class state.The conundrum is an immediate concern in India, which is beginning to embrace manufacturing in the way China […]

New study finds that minimum wage hikes are great news for robot workers

Back in 2014, I wrote a post that asked, “Why are minimum wage proponents dismissing automation risk?” I just wasn’t getting a sense from the “Fight for 15” crowd that it had thought much about the possibility that dramatically raising the minimum wage might worsen the competitive position of low-skill humans versus machines. Members of the audience cheer as they listen to speakers at a union rally for higher minimum wages in New York, January 4, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Or maybe it had, but the politics were so tantalizing that they took precedence over sound policy. My conclusion back […]

Robots Gain from Higher Minimum Wage

Robots Gain from Higher Minimum Wage

America has not yet seen waves of widespread job loss due to automation. The U.S. economy created 209,000 jobs in August to continue its long streak of positive job creation, and the unemployment rate is down to 4.3 percent. Productivity growth remains sluggish , which would not be the case if more efficient machines were replacing droves of workers.

The lack of an aggregate effect on the labor market does not mean automation has not affected the labor market at all.

A new working paper by Grace Lordan of the London School of Economics and David Neumark of the University of […]