Tag: robot

Robots are set to take the jobs of millions of Asian workers in the coming years

Robots are set to take the jobs of millions of Asian workers in the coming years

Workers at a garment factory in Vietnam In the next few decades, about 56% of all salaried workers in Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam could be displaced by automation and advanced technologies, such as 3D printing. That’s the conclusion of an extensive series of new studies by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Mass-scale displacement won’t happen overnight, but it’s already in the works. Robots, for instance, are increasingly handling the labor previously done by low-skilled workers in industries such as automotive and electronics manufacturing. For governments and employers willing to educate and train workers for new, high-tech jobs, […]

US: President’s top economic adviser rejects basic income

US: President’s top economic adviser rejects basic income

Jason Furman, President Obama’s top economics adviser, rejected the idea of a universal basic income in remarks made on Thursday, July 7, at a White House workshop on automation.

The last of four workshops on automation co-hosted by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy was held on Thursday, July 7 at New York University in New York City, New York.

At this workshop , Jason Furman , an economist who has served as Chairman of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers since June 2013, present prepared remarks entitled “ Is This Time Different? The Opportunities and Challenges […]

Good news for U.S. manufacturing? Yes, with caveats

Good news for U.S. manufacturing? Yes, with caveats

Cagle Cartoons National Columnist

Reports of NASA’s Juno spacecraft entering the orbit around Jupiter lit a sparkler in this American heart – on the Fourth of July, no less. It showed that Americans still have what it takes.

To keep spirits orbiting, let’s note another recent American feat that few could have imagined a couple of years ago. The United States is now gaining, not losing, factory jobs. This glad trend has some sobering asterisks attached, but there’s no denying this:There are now nearly a million more factory jobs in this country than there were in 2010. Many of them are […]

U.S. factory jobs increasing, but automation plays key role

Reports of NASA’s Juno spacecraft’s entering the orbit around Jupiter lit a sparkler in this American heart — on the Fourth of July, no less. It showed that Americans still have what it takes.

To keep spirits orbiting, let’s note another recent American feat that few could have imagined a couple of years ago. The United States is now gaining, not losing, factory jobs. This glad trend has some sobering asterisks attached, but there’s no denying this:

There are now nearly a million more factory jobs in this country than there were in 2010. Many of them are coming — surprise, […]

White House economist: Don’t fear the rise of the robots (He’s right)

How much should we fear the “rise of the robots”? (And I mean this from the perspective of worker employment, not human survival.) In a speech today on artificial intelligence and automation, White House economist Jason Furman gives a pretty reasonable and defensible perspective. No, smart machines aren’t going to take all our jobs.

That’s not really the issue, as he sees it. Rather, “it is that workers will either lack the skills or the ability to successfully match with the good, high paying jobs created by automation.” In a short-run that could last decades, “not all workers will have […]

The real impact of robotics and automation advancements

The real impact of robotics and automation advancements

Dear Senate, don’t mess with my automation.

Senator Dan Coats (R-Ind.) chaired a Joint Economic Committee hearing on May 25, titled, “The Transformative Impact of Robots and Automation.” The hearing touched on the impact of robots and automation on jobs and the economy . Of course, any time a Senate committee starts quoting, "One study found that nearly half of American jobs are at risk of being automated over the next couple of decades," I take an interest.

Several experts testified with some interesting thoughts, and I have many of my own. Also read: Is machine learning smart enough to help […]

A scary glance at the job market of 2035

Talk about “burying the lede.” A World Economic Forum piece from earlier this year examined an Australian report on the likely jobs in demand less than twenty years from now. Among them: remote operators for airplanes and “online chaperones” to help prevent cybercrime.

But dig down and you find just how much dislocation the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution could bring. The World Bank predicts that 47 percent of U.S. jobs are at risk of automation. (This jibes with other scholarship I’ve written about before ). If it gives Seattleites any schadenfreude, Oklahoma City is in even greater danger of seeing […]

Southeast Asia – Robot age could leave half of workers without jobs in the next 20 years

A new study by the ILO (International Labour Organization) Bureau for Employers’ Activities, ASEAN in transformation: How technology is changing jobs and enterprises , shows that more than half of workers in five Southeast Asian countries are at risk for losing their jobs to robots in the next 20 years.

The report examines how technology is affecting workplaces in five major sectors across the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the transformation that enterprises and workers can expect in the next decade.

It shows that low-skill workers will find themselves displaced in favour of automation, and more than 60% […]

Obama adviser warns that robots could worsen inequality

Obama adviser warns that robots could worsen inequality

Artificial intelligence is an innovation that must be pursued, President Obama’s top economic adviser said Thursday, but greater automation of work could increase income inequality and push some people out of the workforce if the right policies are not implemented.

Speaking at New York University, Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Jason Furman said he rejected very pessimistic or highly optimistic views of the effects that automization will have on work, saying that labor markets can adjust to technology making certain work obsolete. But those same changes, he said, have also resulted in extra inequality in the past, and that dynamic […]

Robots threaten 137m Asian jobs in automated future

Robots threaten 137m Asian jobs in automated future

Technologies including 3D printing, wearable technology, nanotechnology and robotic automation are predicted to disrupt the sector Robots and automation could endanger the jobs of more than half of workers in five South-east Asian countries over the next two decades, according to an International Labour Organisation (ILO) study.

It found that those working in the garments industry were particularly vulnerable, but jobs in other industries were also found to be at high risk.

About 137 million workers – approximately 56 per cent of the salaried workforce from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam – fall under the high-risk category, the study […]