Tag: Services

Over the last 60 years, automation has totally eliminated just one US occupation

Over the last 60 years, automation has totally eliminated just one US occupation

Automation often replaces human labor, but very rarely in the last sixty years has it eliminated an entire occupation.

Only one of the 270 detailed occupations listed in the 1950 US Census has since been eliminated by automation, according to a working paper by Harvard economist James Bessen. The one exception: elevator operator.

While other occupations on the 1950 list have been eliminated by factors like lack of demand (boardinghouse keepers) and technological obsolescence (telegraph operators), only elevator operators owe their occupation’s demise mostly to automation, Bessen found.The pattern of the last 60 years is likely to continue. Though almost all […]

The Robots are Coming, your Job is at Risk

The Robots are Coming, your Job is at Risk

Development & Aid , Featured , Global , Globalisation , Headlines , Labour | Opinion

Martin Khor is Executive Director of the South Centre, a think tank for developing countries, based in Geneva. Credit: John Greenfield/Flickr PENANG, Mar 15 2017 (IPS) – Last year Uber started testing driver-less cars, with humans inside to make corrections in case something goes wrong. If the tests go well, Uber will presumably replace their present army of drivers with fleets of the new cars.

Some personally owned cars can already do automatic parking. Is it a matter of time before Uber, taxi and personal […]

Fears of robots stealing our jobs are misplaced

Fears of robots stealing our jobs are misplaced

It was feared ATMs would displace bank tellers. However, deployment of ATMs reduces bank running costs, allowing banks to open more branches

A widely cited 2013 study estimates that 47 per cent of American jobs are at high risk of being computerised soon Artificial intelligence is the simulation of human intelligence by machines. The term was coined in a 1955 research proposal stating that “good progress could be made in research to get machines to solve the kinds of problems reserved for humans”. This prediction was over-optimistic at the time and AI garnered a reputation for promising more […]

Work fewer hours and be happier: Greens

Work fewer hours and be happier: Greens

Greens leader Richard Di Natale believes some Australians would be better off with a four-day working week or a six-hour working day even if it meant earning less money in some cases.

This would allow people to spend more time on the things that make life worth living, such as family, sport, and volunteering. SHARE Share on Facebook SHARE Share on Twitter TWEET Link Richard Di Natale is urging Australian society to seek a better life-work balance for the sake of everyone. Photo: Andrew Meares Swimming against the political tide in which jobs and work are held up as ends […]

DICT: 48% of employees to be affected by automation

DICT: 48% of employees to be affected by automation

The statistic underscores the need to urgently improve public access to the internet and information RETHINKING PROCESSES. Rodolfo Salalima (center) addresses the need for society to adjust to the advent of automation. Photo by Gelo Gonzales/Rappler MANILA, Philippines – The incoming wave of automation underscores the need to improve internet services in the country – and fast.

Automation or the assignment of jobs and tasks to machines and computer-helmed systems will affect roughly 48% of employees in the Philippines – either by reducing the worker’s role or taking away a job completely. The statistic was presented by Department of Information […]

Bill Gates thinks robots should be taxed. Is he right?

Bill Gates thinks robots should be taxed. Is he right?

Robots are taking your kids’ jobs too. (Photo: Central Press/Getty Images) Bill Gates, the techno-optimist who co-founded Microsoft, is worried about the rise of the robots. What people will do when all the jobs disappear? When he was interviewed by Kevin Delaney of Quartz , he had this to say about it: “You ought to be willing to raise the tax level and even slow down the speed” of automation, Gates argues. That’s because the technology and business cases for replacing humans in a wide range of jobs are arriving simultaneously, and it’s important to be able to manage […]

Automation Won’t Create New Jobs Causes & Consequences

C O N T E N T S:

KEY TOPICS In any case, automation has never led to fewer jobs in the economy in the past and never will in the future, for the simple reason that automation lowers prices which increases demand for goods and services, which in turn creates jobs.” (More…)

POSSIBLY USEFUL Their positional value as premium workers has eroded, which affects demand for their services, and also their job satisfaction. (i.e. the closer a worker’s pay is to minimum wage, the less satisfied they are with their pay, even if the reason for the […]

Intelligent automation points the way to future economic growth

Intelligent automation points the way to future economic growth

Credit: Thinkstock As someone deeply involved in technology strategy, I’m often asked about the impact of automation. Will automation—specifically, intelligent automation—create prosperity and growth, or will it create a dystopian future where workers are increasingly replaced by software robots?

I always answer—and believe—that intelligent automation is a vast opportunity, not a threat. By working hand in hand with intelligent technology, we can achieve greater things. It frees us from mundane, repetitive activities—unleashing creativity and letting us build stronger, more productive working relationships. Intelligent automation makes us more human, not less. Unprecedented productivity gains

That’s why McKinsey’s recent report, A Future […]

SNAP for Week of March 5 to 10

SNAP for Week of March 5 to 10

There will be less white collar jobs available, thanks to tech I find myself disagreeing with the optimistic take Accenture has over the future of technology . For the last 17 years the professional services firm has produced an annual look at how technology is developing, called The Technology Vision and how businesses must adapt. This year, it highlights five areas of emerging technology developments that businesses must deal with in an economy that is transitioning rapidly into a digital era. In its latest Technology Vision, Accenture details how — with advances in artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things […]

Automation and the prospects of economic development

Automation and the prospects of economic development

Technological anxiety has been with us since the first modern industries appeared. The angst toward new technologies is mainly about the fear of widespread substitution and displacement of human labor by machines. Historical experiences in early industrialization have shown that new technologies used in production initially had disruptive effects to labor and existing production assets. However, new technologies also ushered in the birth of new industries, created new jobs, becoming the source of productivity, economic growth and development.

Automation, like most new labor-saving technologies, has an effect of raising the comparative advantage and value of jobs that only humans can […]