Tag: Services

The real reasons behind the fall in America’s manufacturing jobs

The real reasons behind the fall in America's manufacturing jobs

© Getty Images This morning’s employment report shows a healthy increase of 235,000 total (nonfarm) jobs last month, pretty much across the board, in all major categories except for retail services. The manufacturing sector alone gained 28,000 jobs — a stronger showing than we’ve seen in a long time.

But we shouldn’t break out the champagne over one month’s worth of manufacturing jobs. Compared with roughly a year ago, manufacturing has been essentially flat, up just 7,000 jobs. Looking further back it becomes obvious that manufacturing just has not followed the typical storyline of an industry merely living through and […]

Robots aren’t killing the American Dream. Neither is trade. This is the problem.

Robots aren’t killing the American Dream. Neither is trade. This is the problem.

Robots named Thunderbird and Cyclops lower a Tesla vehicle onto the assembly line at Tesla Motors factory in Fremont, Calif., in 2016. (Joseph White/Reuters) “ No, robots aren’t killing the American Dream ,” argued the New York Times editorial board in February. As evidence, the Times emphasized that labor productivity and capital investment have decelerated in the new century. In theory, that wouldn’t be happening if automation were the main reason that the middle class has been shedding jobs.

Unfortunately, that argument leads many people to conclude that globalization and liberalized international trade must be what’s hurting U.S. manufacturing. That’s […]

Automation is coming for your job!!

Automation is coming for your job!!

We’ve gone through speedy, and at times shocking, technological progress over the past twenty or thirty years.

I’m 30 and remember watching VHS tapes. The tapes were expensive, wore out, were difficult to store, degraded, and weren’t mobile. We can now get much better video quality, on demand, with no storage need, no worries about wear or degradation, virtually any time and anywhere on any modern mobile device. That’s just an example of what twenty years ago would have seemed impossible is now routine.

We’ve already been through a major wave of job loss in manufacturing and other blue collar industries. […]

Michael Hicks: We need better planning for automation

Michael Hicks: We need better planning for automation

There is remarkable angst growing over the role of machines in the production of goods and services. While we are right to be concerned over the labor market effects of automation, most folks worry about the wrong things. That can lead to some stunningly wasteful, if not outright hurtful, public policies. Here’s why.

All technological change, from the shovel to the microcomputer, is designed to save labor. At the same time — and only in market-based economies — new work continues to materialize and business endeavors to hire more workers. For all of recorded history, automation and productivity improvement creates […]

The optimist’s guide to the robot apocalypse

The optimist’s guide to the robot apocalypse

Machines, you may have heard, are coming for all the jobs.

Robots flip burgers and work warehouses . Artificial intelligence handles insurance claims and basic bookkeeping , manages investment portfolios , does legal research , and performs basic HR tasks . Human labor doesn’t stand a chance against them—after the “ automation apocalypse ,” only those with spectacular abilities and the owners of the robots will thrive.

Or at least, that’s one plausible and completely valid theory. But before you start campaigning for a universal basic income and set up a bunker , you might want to also familiarize yourself with […]

Is technology replacing jobs?

My sixth-grade girlfriend was the best. Her name was Anne. I would never meet anyone else as great as she was. I was already planning to get married to her.

Well, do you know how that ended? I never saw her in high school, or ever again actually. What we believe in when we are young is never what we experience as we age. It’s funny how that happens. Oh my, how things change.

So, automation is 50 years old. Is it mature? Absolutely. And now we have the benefit of hindsight of those 50 years. To me—and don’t forget my […]

Jobs require an overhaul in education system

Jobs require an overhaul in education system

Rise in AI likely to hurt Centre’s ambition to create millions of jobs. Amidst concern about robots replacing manual labour in the middle skill jobs, a report released by industry body Assocham along with global audit firm PwC has called for an overhaul of the education system to meet the emerging industry demand. (Representational image) MUMBAI: Amidst concern about robots replacing manual labour in the middle skill jobs, a report released by industry body Assocham along with global audit firm PwC has called for an overhaul of the education system to meet the emerging industry demand. The report also […]

Work in an automated future

Work in an automated future

Disruptive technologies are now dictating our future, as new innovations increasingly blur the lines between physical, digital and biological realms.

Robots are already in our operating rooms and fast-food restaurants; we can now use 3D imaging and stem-cell extraction to grow human bones from a patient’s own cells; and 3D printing is creating a circular economy in which we can use and then reuse raw materials.

This tsunami of technological innovation will continue to change profoundly how we live and work, and how our societies operate.In what is now called the Fourth Industrial Revolution, technologies that are coming of age — […]

How Robots Could Help Close The Gender Gap

How Robots Could Help Close The Gender Gap

It seems like AI and robotics have become the favourite industries of venture capitalists, with some $5bn invested across 658 deals in 2016 alone. This is a huge growth from what was just a nascent industry in 2012 (which had less than $600m in investments across 160 deals).

It also seems that politicians have begun to pay attention, with the UK government having recently announced an investment of £20m in artificial intelligence research, including robots and driverless cars. The European Union has also been eyeing the topic, outlining the possible issues and therefore the need for EU-wide rules to enforce […]

How can India create Employment in the digital age?

How can India create Employment in the digital age?

The global window for export- and manufacturing- led development is closing Marc Saxer Delhi

Ever since the Second Industrial Revolution started to peter out in the 1960s, global capitalism has faced a crisis of demand. Ironically, the strategies put in place to restore profitability largely aimed at the supply side: 1) the Rationalisation of production through technological automation aimed at increasing efficiency; more recently the digital revolution as the latest attempt to tackle the consumption crisis by rationalising the consumptive and distributive apparatus. 2) the Globalisation of production by offshoring, profiting from cheap labour cost in developing economies; 3) […]