Tag: Services

Robots are killing jobs after all

Robots are killing jobs after all

So much for the utopian techno future

Industrial robots are depressing wages and increasing unemployment, according to a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private, non-profit, non-partisan research organization.

Written by MIT economists Daron Acemoglu and Pascual Restrepo, " Robots and Jobs: Evidence from US Labor Markets " [subscription required] appears only days after Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin dismissed the possibility of automated systems taking jobs from people, saying , "It’s not even on our radar screen."Similar to the cosmological conundrum about whether the universe will continue expanding indefinitely or collapse upon itself, the impact of […]

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

Tech will lead to new sub-prime crunch

In October 2016, two leading P2P platforms in the U.S. — Lending Club and Prosper — announced a new increase in interest rates for lower-grade loans. The decision was made in order to sustain investor demand, as the model platforms are operating under challenges faced during the last months due to compliance issues with Lending Club and the general turbulence of the P2P lending industry.

However, keeping the investor demand stable is not the only reason for recent changes — as Lending Club announced, delinquencies are growing, especially when it comes to high-risk loans.

October 2016 was not the first time […]

Top 5 reality checks if you think you can’t lose your job to a robot

Top 5 reality checks if you think you can't lose your job to a robot

Inside the production facility of La Colombe coffee factory at 6366 Norton Center Dr. on Jan. 24, 2017 in Norton Shores, Mich. La Colombe started production over two weeks ago and uses local milk to produce their canned draft latte beverages. (Joel Bissell | MLive.com) (Joel Bissell) Global accounting firm PwC recently studied the potential impact of automation on jobs in the United Kingdom, comparing it to three other economies, including the United States.

The results: The U.S. could lose up to 38 percent of its jobs to technology – including artificial intelligence and robots – by the early 2030s.

Among […]

Automation Is Here

Automation Is Here

Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence have the power to transform the workplace for all those employed, including senior management. Today everyone, especially senior leaders, must understand this challenge, stay ahead of it and create conditions to benefit from it. This is a sea change comparable to the industrial and agricultural revolutions in scope and effect. For those in the workforce, like past societal transformations, the digital/tech revolution involves disruption and displacement, and new ways and types of working.

Using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Occupational Information Network (O*Net) data, McKinsey Global Institute analyzed automation’s potential workplace effect by examining […]

Should the Trump Administration be Worried About Automation?

Should the Trump Administration be Worried About Automation?

yoh4nn/istock In an interview with Axios’ s Mike Allen on Friday, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he was unconcerned about the possibility of machines replacing significant numbers of human workers in the near future, saying it was “not even on [the Trump administration’s] radar screen” and insisting that displacement would not be an issue for another 50-100 years. “In fact I’m optimistic,” he told Allen.

While there’s a healthy ongoing debate over just what impact automation will have on the workforce , Mnuchin’s assertion that it is not a matter of any particular urgency raised some eyebrows. “Just about […]

Trade Denialism Continues: Trade Really Did Kill Manufacturing Jobs

Trade Denialism Continues: Trade Really Did Kill Manufacturing Jobs

There have been a flood of opinion pieces and news stories in recent weeks wrongly telling people that it was not trade that led to the loss of manufacturing jobs in recent years, but rather automation. This means that all of those people who are worried about trade deficits costing jobs are simply being silly. The promulgators of the automation story want everyone to stop talking about trade and instead focus on education, technology or whatever other item they can throw out as a distraction.

This "automation rather than trade story" is the equivalent of global warming denialism for the […]

Why American Jobs Have a Higher Risk of Automation Than Jobs in Germany, the UK, and Japan

Why American Jobs Have a Higher Risk of Automation Than Jobs in Germany, the UK, and Japan

You’ve been warned before—robots are coming for your job. The speed of technological advancement, particularly in smart automation, has sprung countless economic studies and political warnings about how many people are likely to lose their jobs to this rise of the machines. But it’s not an easy number to peg down; estimates range from 5% to 50%.

The latest predictions from PricewaterhouseCoopers survey the damage for specific countries. Analysts at the consulting firm said that by the early 2030s, 38% of US jobs are at a high risk of automation, more than in Germany, the UK, and Japan.

PwC revisited two […]

Robots Are Coming for Your Job. Here’s How, Why and When

Robots Are Coming for Your Job. Here’s How, Why and When

Four in 10 U.S. jobs are at risk of being replaced by automation and artificial intelligence by 2030. Here’s why Americans should worry the most. March 26, 2017 – The potential for job losses due to advances in technology is not a new concern. But over the past few years, fears of technology-driven job losses have emerged with advances in ‘smart automation’ – the combination of artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other digital technologies. The impact of innovation is already visible in driverless cars and trucks, intelligent virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa and Cortana, and Japanese healthcare robots. But […]

Technology is killing jobs, and only technology can save them

Technology is killing jobs, and only technology can save them

In the recent presidential election, automation and robotics got a slight reprieve from the accusations that it has been the key driver in job losses in the United States. During the campaign, the conversation shifted, thanks largely to then-candidate Trump’s masterful scapegoating of Mexico and China, while calling out trade deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership as clear and present threats to U.S. manufacturing.

Indeed, the administration continues to downplay automation as a factor in the U.S. economy, because that explanation runs against the political policies it hopes to enact under the guise of improving the conditions of America’s […]

Robots job-changers not job-killers

Robots job-changers not job-killers

And the takeover will occur within the next 15 years. Jobs will change rather than disappear over the next decade as robots are increasingly used in the world of work, a study has said. For example, the finance and insurance sectors are showing higher possibilities of automation because finance workers in the US have less education than their British counterparts.

His suggestion is quite similar to a proposal put to the European Parliament to tax robot owners so that those who lose their jobs to automation can be retrained.

In the United Kingdom transport jobs are one of the sectors most […]