Tag: productivity

Will Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts Steal Jobs from People?

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Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology has already expanded from just being a ledger, keeping a record of all transactions happening over the network to a widely adopted technology across industries. Smart contracts based on blockchain technology can be used to automate various process across industries.

The major application of blockchain technology currently lies in the banking and financial sectors, involving a lot of time-consuming repetitive processes. By creating smart contracts that are programmed to automatically execute certain processes when the predetermined conditions are met, lot of resources in terms of time and manpower can be saved. Automation […]

Will Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts Steal Jobs from People?

Will Blockchain Technology and Smart Contracts Steal Jobs from People?

Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain technology has already expanded from just being a ledger, keeping a record of all transactions happening over the network to a widely adopted technology across industries. Smart contracts based on blockchain technology can be used to automate various process across industries.

The major application of blockchain technology currently lies in the banking and financial sectors, involving a lot of time-consuming repetitive processes. By creating smart contracts that are programmed to automatically execute certain processes when the predetermined conditions are met, lot of resources in terms of time and manpower can be saved. Automation can save these institutions […]

Universal basic income paid by a ‘robot tax’ is a bad idea

Universal basic income paid by a ‘robot tax’ is a bad idea

Thilo Brodtmann considers that the Parliament’s report on robots should have been a selection of "sensible suggestions" instead of a list of regulatory measures. Although the digitalisation of industry is a top priority among EU decision makers, Europe should not be concerned about job losses caused by growing automation. Instead, member states should teach the new generations the skills required for a digital future, believes the VDMA chief, Thilo Brodtman.

Thilo Brodtmann is the executive director of VDMA, the German mechanical engineering association representing more than 3,200 mainly small and medium -sized companies.

Brodtmann spoke to EurActiv.com’s Jorge Valero […]

Stuart Hall, Tyzack works out the future.

Stuart Hall, Tyzack works out the future.

The pace of technological change, shifting demographic patterns and economic globalisation are radically re-shaping the future of employment globally. This is something we have been witnessing since 2000, with the acceleration of a technological revolution, a radical transformation more comprehensive and more encompassing than anything we have seen before.

We are already experiencing the impact in staff reductions as a result of technology such as supermarket self-checkouts, ATM machines and robotics in the manufacturing sector, and whilst few doubt that the changes we’re experiencing hold great promise, the patterns of employment, production and consumption resulting from them are certainly creating […]

Research probes future of horticultural labour

Research probes future of horticultural labour

Farm workers: sectors reliant on EU migration will need to plan for reduction in labour availability after leaving EU – image: USDA The future role of labour in agriculture and horticulture is now very much up for grabs, according to two new policy reports published this month. Faced with a potential decrease in supply of low-skill migrant labour and the phased introduction of the National Living Wage (NLW), and with a high degree of "routineness" in its lower- skilled tasks, food and farming stands out as the sector of the economy most ripe for automation, according to Robot Wars: […]

Hiring in FY’17 may be lower: NASSCOM

Hiring in FY'17 may be lower: NASSCOM

Chandrashekhar attributed the companies’ focus on automation and pressure on margins for the decrease in hiring activities. CHENNAI: IT body NASSCOM today said fresh hiring in the current financial year may be lower than last year as IT companies are facing pressure on margins, besides focusing on automation of jobs.

"Hiring activity in the year before last was 2.20 lakh (new jobs were created in IT sector). Last year, (FY 2015-16) there were about two lakh additions. This financial year, we are expecting it to be on the lower side of that", National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) […]

Greens would set up Minister for Manufacturing within MBIE, if in Government

Greens would set up Minister for Manufacturing within MBIE, if in Government

Green Party co-leader James Shaw says National has dropped the ball on fighting for the interests of New Zealand’s manufacturing sector. The Greens will establish a Minister for Manufacturing if in Government, that would sit inside Cabinet and create "well-paid, clean-tech jobs".

Co-leader James Shaw made the policy announcement at a Christchurch-based knitting company on Thursday.

New working groups within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) would be created, rather than a creating a new Government department.Costs of reassigning resources in MBIE would be met within existing baselines, Shaw said. READ MORE: * A Labour-Green alliance met with […]

This expert thinks robots aren’t going to destroy many jobs. And that’s a problem.

This expert thinks robots aren't going to destroy many jobs. And that's a problem.

Javier Zarracina

If you follow news out of Silicon Valley, it’s easy to get the impression that we’re living through an era of unprecedented technological change. The modern smartphone is less than a decade old, yet it has already become ubiquitous in American society and allowed Apple and Google to become two of the most valuable companies in the world. And companies like Uber and Airbnb are bringing the internet revolution to industries as diverse as taxicabs and hotels.

Yet it’s hard to find evidence of rapid progress in the nation’s economic statistics. To the contrary, after the productivity of American […]

The Workplace of the Future

The Workplace of the Future

The Barbarian Group’s ‘Superdesk’ | Source: Courtesy There are few sectors of the economy that offer as wide and interesting a range of career opportunities as fashion. For more careers content or to browse current job opportunities in fashion, visit BoF Careers .

LONDON, United Kingdom — The way we work is changing. Many of us have experienced working in big offices, in cubicles, under fluorescent lighting and at the same desk and computer every day. However, several key trends are leading up to a shift in the way people communicate, collaborate and work.

Economic shifts are redistributing power, […]

42 percent of working Canadians at high risk of being replaced by automation, says study

42 percent of working Canadians at high risk of being replaced by automation, says study

If you are on the verge of graduating from high school and wrestling with what to do with the rest of your life, or re-training yourself for another job mid-career, a study by Brookfield Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship located in Toronto, Canada and housed within Ryerson University may have an impact.

Their recent study , The Talented Mr. Robot: The impact of automation on Canada’s workforce says a staggering 42 percent of the Canadian workforce is at high risk of being affected by automation over the next 10 to 20 years, with over a 70 percent probability of this […]