Tag: Services

4IR: The good, the bad and the inequality gap

4IR: The good, the bad and the inequality gap

On the brighter side, the Fourth Industrial Revolution will create many new jobs that do not exist today, says the writer. (Image: Franck V. / Unsplash) The Fourth Industrial Revolution is an unstoppable force that will have a profound impact on the world. While it will undoubtedly bring many benefits, we must beware it does not increase the already huge gulf between South Africa’s haves and have-nots.

Whether for good or bad, we are on the path of a technological revolution that is radically shaping the way in which we relate to the world and to one another. […]

Robots would occupy 20 million jobs by 2030

Robots would occupy 20 million jobs by 2030

Robots are expected to occupy 20 million jobs by 2030. The study conducted by Oxford Economics and published by the BBC , which details that the job displacement caused by the increase of the robots will not distribute itself uniformly throughout the world. It is predicted that this occupation of robots will aggravate social and geographical inequalities, but will give a boost to general economic production, according to the same study.

The British private research and consulting firm says robots have absorbed millions of industrial jobs and are now gaining ground in services, helped by advances in areas such as […]

In Praise of Demographic Decline

In Praise of Demographic Decline

Getty Images Our expanding ability to automate human work across all sectors – agriculture, industry, and services – makes an ever-growing workforce increasingly irrelevant to improvements in human welfare. That’s good news for most of the world, but not for Africa.

LONDON – Every two years, the United Nations issues its latest estimate of future population trends. Its 2019 projection reveals a stark divide. Across all of Asia, Europe, and the Americas, population stability has already been achieved or soon will be, with the median projection suggesting an increase from 6.4 billion today to 6.5 billion in 2100, a rise […]

Manufacturing Job Losses are from Trade not Automation

Manufacturing Job Losses are from Trade not Automation

Many people today are concerned about automation. And not without good reason – automation has been blamed for the dramatic job losses seen in manufacturing over the last few decades. And we are warned that automation will soon come for a wider range of jobs – which some think could cause "Depression-level" unemployment .

However, last year an paper was published which overturned the consensus narrative on what exactly is responsible for the job losses the U.S. has seen in the manufacturing sector. Many experts and economists have argued for decades that automation, not foreign trade is responsible for the […]

Automation Should Be a Major 2020 Issue. Andrew Yang Failed to Put it On the Map

Automation Should Be a Major 2020 Issue. Andrew Yang Failed to Put it On the Map

It’s early yet, but automation is already on track to become the most ignored issue this campaign cycle—outpacing even the neglected climate change, which, while broached both nights of the first Democratic presidential debate this week, deserves a much larger share of the conversation . Corporate automation, and the mass job loss and degradation it portends, was the subject of just a single question in four hours of debate and mentioned by the candidates only twice.

This despite the fact that one of the candidates—the techie and former entrepreneur Andrew Yang— has built his entire campaign around the threat of […]

Robots to displace transport and manufacturing workers in vast numbers

Robots to displace transport and manufacturing workers in vast numbers

The numbers of robots in use around the world has tripled to 2.25 million over the last 20 years and is forecast to reach 20 million by 2030, according to consultants Oxford Economics . In its report “How robots change the world – what automation really means for jobs and productivity,” the consultancy is also forecasting millions of job losses. Trucking, shipping and ports will be affected – in fact, they already are.

While affirming that robots will boost productivity and create new jobs, Adrian Cooper, the CEO and Chief Economist of Oxford Economics, forecast that “existing business models across […]

How digital technology could redefine Canada’s economy

How digital technology could redefine Canada’s economy

With foresight, perhaps we can better understand the challenges and opportunities digital technologies present and play a role in shaping our futures.

Digital technologies are changing not only what happens in our economy, they are also changing its fundamental character. At this moment, a 3D printer is producing a human replacement organ using a digital model and the patient’s own cells. As you read this, iron ore is being extracted from a mine in Australia by autonomous machines supervised by a small crew of people more than a thousand kilometres away. While you slept last night, an architectural engineer […]

What does automation mean for our ongoing gender inequality?

What does automation mean for our ongoing gender inequality?

Recent trends and the broader history of technological change indicate that automation will usher in major shifts in labor markets over the next decade, displacing millions of workers but also creating millions of new jobs that require new skills.

The McKinsey Global Institute, having documented these changes for several years, has produced a new report examining how automation might affect men and women differently.

A key conclusion of the study is that persistent gender disparities in the workplace, as documented in a previous MGI report, will make it more difficult for women than for men to adapt to the coming changes […]

Our misplaced fear of job-stealing robots

Our misplaced fear of job-stealing robots

Image: Shutterstock Some good news: The robots aren’t coming for your job. Experts say fears that rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation will leave all of us unemployed are vastly overstated.

But concerns over growing inequality and the lack of opportunity for many in the labor force — serious matters linked to a variety of structural changes in the economy — are well-founded and need to be addressed, four scholars on artificial intelligence and the economy recently told an audience at Stanford Graduate School of Business.

That’s not to say that artificial intelligence isn’t having a profound effect […]

Robots to take 20 million jobs, worsening inequality (study)

Robots to take 20 million jobs, worsening inequality (study)

Robots have already taken over millions of manufacturing jobs and are now gaining in services. — AFP Relaxnews Robots are expected to take over some 20 million manufacturing jobs worldwide by 2030, extending a trend of worsening social inequality while boosting overall economic output, a new study shows.

The forecast highlights growing concerns that automation and robots, while offering economic benefits, are disproportionately killing low-skill jobs and aggravating social and economic stress.

The study by Oxford Economics, a private British-based research and consulting firm, said job displacement from the rise of robots will not be evenly spread around the world, […]