Tag: Services

New Hampshire holds steady B+ in manufacturing study

New Hampshire holds steady B+ in manufacturing study

Ball State report highlights state’s advantages in New England

In an annual comparison study of all 50 states, New Hampshire held steady with a B+ in manufacturing sector health as well as seeing improvement in several categories.

Ironically, the only category where the state slipped was its tax climate — a topic of much debate lately, as the Legislature and governor disagree whether tax cuts passed in a previous session should continue or not. New Hampshire fell from a C to a C- in that category.“There’s an awful lot of tax competition out there, and you as a particular state […]

The rise of automated workers: Part 1 – should we be worried?

The rise of automated workers: Part 1 - should we be worried?

Jasmine Patel and Jessica Hunt from the employment and discrimination team discuss the rise of automated workers and what it means for employment in this two-part blog series.

Throughout history humans have sought to create machines which make their life easier and less time consuming; from the Romans inventing aqueducts to the self-driving car. We seem to have an almost insatiable appetite to progress and make changes to the way we work and live.

Perhaps the most successful period for automation in modern history was the Industrial Revolution. This was an era which saw the invention of the steam engine, the […]

Americans find high value in STEM careers, digitalization

Americans find high value in STEM careers, digitalization

The Randstad Workmonitor survey has revealed that 68% of American workers would choose a field of study focused on science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM).

"Employees understand the value of STEM talent today; they see their employers on the hunt for that talent and how in demand STEM skills are in the modern workforce," Graig Paglieri, group president, of Randstad Technologies and Engineering, said. "The survey endings don’t necessarily mean people in non-STEM roles have career regret or think their jobs will be taken over by automation and robots. However, it’s clear most people think having at least some […]

Like previous technological innovation, AI and automation promises increased productivity, higher wages, and even longer lifespans for everyone. But gaining this potential will require development and diffusion of these technologies carefully

Like previous technological innovation, AI and automation promises increased productivity, higher wages, and even longer lifespans for everyone. But gaining this potential will require development and diffusion of these technologies carefully

By Christopher Pissarides and Jacques Bughin

Public discussion of the effects of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) often focuses on the productivity benefits for companies and the economy, on the one hand, and on the potential downside for workers, on the other. Yet there is a critical third dimension that should not be overlooked: the impact of new technologies on wellbeing.

Historically, technological innovation has had positive effects on wellbeing extending far beyond what is captured by standard economic metrics such as GDP. Vaccinations, new pharmaceuticals, and medical innovations such as X-rays and MRIs have vastly improved human health and […]

No college degree? Your best bet might be serving the rich

No college degree? Your best bet might be serving the rich

The fastest-growing segment of the U.S. job market for people without a college education is in personal care and service jobs, analyses of labor data show.

Such "wealth work" jobs mostly consist of providing services to affluent Americans, like yard work, dog-walking and massage.

While plentiful, these jobs tend to pay far less than the typical U.S. job, offer few benefits and are more tenuous. Although Americans without college degrees have been steadily squeezed out of the labor market in recent decades, a new career path beckons: working for the rich.This new "servant class" tends to the yards, […]

These Are Israel’s Highest Paying Jobs — and the Ones That Are Dying

These Are Israel’s Highest Paying Jobs — and the Ones That Are Dying

A Google Developers conference, in Krakow, Poland, September 6, 2017. With unemployment under 4% and wages rising, it’s a great time to be a worker in Israel. Unless, that is, your occupation is dying out.

Typists and clerks have lost out to computers and other forms of automation, while gas station attendants are no longer in demand as self-service pumps become the default. As a Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry report issued Tuesday shows, these occupations saw their numbers fall by over 10% in 2012-16.

Other jobs are showing signs of obsolescence by virtue of the fact that the […]

Don’t Squander the Techno-Revolution

Don’t Squander the Techno-Revolution

Getty Images Like past waves of technological innovation, the new era of artificial intelligence and automation promises increased productivity, higher wages, and even longer lifespans for everyone. But realizing this potential will require governments and businesses to manage the development and diffusion of frontier technologies carefully.

LONDON – Public discussion of the effects of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) often focuses on the productivity benefits for companies and the economy, on the one hand, and on the potential downside for workers, on the other. Yet there is a critical third dimension that should not be overlooked: the impact of new […]

Future Automation

Great for the robots, but what about people?. The Future of Jobs Report aims to unpack and provide specific information on the relative magnitude of these trends by industry and geography, and on the expected time horizon for their impact to be felt on job functions, employment levels and skills. Universal Basic Income may be our only way out. 133, Sector No. Learn about Azure Automation, a cloud automation service for process automating those long-running, error-prone, frequently repeated tasks with Windows PowerShell. In this talk about the future of work, economist David Autor addresses the question of why there […]

‘Robotic process automation is the beginning, expect further disruption in technology and services’

‘Robotic process automation is the beginning, expect further disruption in technology and services’

White collar automation has been happening for a very long time. Robotics is a cool name for efficient software that has led to the creation of a new stream called Robotics Process Automation (RPA). RPA eliminates mundane and tedious tasks freeing workers to focus on higher value work. Since the 4-5 years of its evolution, RPA is now the buzzword for CTOs and CFOs as it delivers 30-40 percent savings and operational efficiency in the first year of adoption and continues to improve efficiencies thereafter. Some of the leading industries adopting RPA in the West are financial services, healthcare […]

Higher Productivity Is Good for Workers

Higher Productivity Is Good for Workers

(Ralph Orlowski/REUTERS) For most of our history Americans have supported increased productivity, even if it led to economic disruption and worker displacement. Unfortunately, over the last decade that support has weakened. Productivity gains are now portrayed as a tool for greedy corporations to jack up their profits at the expense of workers. Moreover, workers are now seen as so fragile that all automation must be feared. So, rather than support productivity, the dominant narrative favors redistribution and protection from change.

The emergence of this new “productivity doesn’t benefit workers” narrative matters because government policies in a wide array of areas […]