Tag: Services

Donald Trump’s Clumsy War on Globalisation is Bound to Fail

During his 2016 election campaign, Donald J Trump spoke consistently of bringing back the United States’ (US) manufacturing jobs. His rhetoric on "declaring America’s economic independence" earned him significant wins in America’s rust belt states of Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Now, being the President-elect, the underlying phenomenon that he plans to take on is Globalisation and the fast approaching "Fourth Industrial Revolution" and he may find his planned policies being unable to combat either.

If the Carrier deal where Trump claims to have saved 800 jobs is an example of how he plans on keeping manufacturing companies in the US, then […]

Offshoring, Not Automation, Is Causing America’s Manufacturing Job Loss

Offshoring, Not Automation, Is Causing America’s Manufacturing Job Loss

Don’t Blame Technology Or Robots

People who say that America is losing its manufacturing jobs because of automation (more robots) are either ignorant, or lying—many are both.

Sadly, these people are about as common as they wrong (very, on both counts).Bad “economists” are everywhere, especially in journalism. For example, Wolfgang Lehmacher wrote a column in Fortune on the subject: …what then explains [manufacturing] job losses? It’s simple: factories don’t need as many workers as they used to, because robots increasingly do the work. Let me be clear: that’s not wrong prima facie —factories are getting more efficient. But that’s […]

Apple, Ireland, the EU and tax

Apple, Ireland, the EU and tax

Sir, – The Government plays a dangerous and not very patriotic game when it challenges EU findings that Apple was afforded special tax avoidance privilege in Ireland for a many years.

Facilitating 0.005 per cent tax payable on multiple billions of profit cannot be easily denied or explained. Some might consider it nothing short of treachery for a Government to side with those who would concentrate wealth and power into a sort of corporate feudalism, rather than with its own citizenry who fear they are are being betrayed into a serfdom of unemployed dependency, inadequate services and festering despair.

For when […]

Could Automation Actually Create More Jobs Than It Destroys?

Could Automation Actually Create More Jobs Than It Destroys?

The short answer is yes, by creating more demand through growth in those fields where automation enhances human capabilities, not just replaces them. But with the added proviso, ‘eventually.’
The question is whether society is willing to invest in programs that ease the transition and thus improve the short term economics. JL

The Economist reports : Rather than destroying jobs, automation redefines them in ways that boost demand. Employment grew faster in occupations ( graphic design) that made more use of computers: as automation sped up a job, workers do the other parts better. More computer-intensive jobs displaced less […]

The skills delusion

Everybody agrees that better education and improved skills, for as many people as possible, are crucial to increasing productivity and living standards, and to tackling rising inequality.

But what if everybody is wrong?

Most economists are certain that human capital is as important to productivity growth as physical capital.And to some degree, that is obviously true.Modern economies would not be possible without widespread literacy and numeracy: many emerging economies are held back by inadequate skills.But one striking feature of the modern economy is how few skilled people are needed to drive crucial areas of economic activity.Facebook has a market value of […]

Southern rail dispute reflects workers’ growing fears about rise of automation

Southern rail dispute reflects workers’ growing fears about rise of automation

Trains with a guard become driver-only trains, which then become driverless trains. That’s the fear underlying Aslef’s dispute with Southern railways and accounts for the rearguard action to prevent further job losses across the rail industry.

It’s not the only reason for the dispute. There is also scorn for Southern’s management, which has attacked drivers’ basic terms and conditions, and there is anger at transport secretary Chris Grayling’s anti-union stance. But, at its heart, the dispute is over the status and even the very existence of the job of train driver, which has been around for nigh on 200 years.

Like […]

Automation Won’t Create New Jobs Like Technology Did In The Past

Automation Won't Create New Jobs Like Technology Did In The Past

(Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Westfield) “Increased productivity leads to more wealth, cheaper goods, greater spending power and ultimately, more jobs ,” said the Wall Street Journal in the latest entry in the counterpoint to articles declaring the end of work.

This essentially is the problem with calls to put aside worry about automation. They sit on an assumption that, somehow, something will come along to save the day, even though no one has the slightest idea of what it might be. Call it the Magical Job Savior, the inexorable and unstoppable unforeseen something that increases the number of jobs even as technology eliminates them but somehow enables the rescue.

Full Post at www.forbes.com

Automation Doesn’t Always Kill Jobs. Sometimes, It Adds Them.

Automation Doesn't Always Kill Jobs. Sometimes, It Adds Them.

‘When the University of Maine at Augusta launched its first noncredit course for commercial drone pilots in October, the seats quickly filled up. Among the 37 students are a cattle rancher, a construction company executive, a photojournalist, and several realtors.

‘“We are a bit of a motley crew,” says Tom Abbott, project manager for the university’s drone pilot training center, who is also taking the course. When they finish in mid-December, the students can take a test for federal certification to operate commercial drones, which are now being used in trials for everything from inspecting Maine’s potato crops to delivering […]

The despicable inequality and cruel egalitarianism of wealth: towards a draft wealth tax to fund a basic income

The despicable inequality and cruel egalitarianism of wealth: towards a draft wealth tax to fund a basic income

Part 3 of a series. To those who have, more shall be given. Cities get more investment. From those who have little, more shall be taken. Small towns are finding that they are excluded from the excitement happening everywhere else and little investment goes their way.

The idea of capitalism – that goods should bear market prices, that justly acquired property is yours, and exchange between willing participants be free of encumbrances – is everywhere under threat.

There is, however, little policy difference between the extreme-left and extreme-right populist response. Both demand a remarkably statist approach to government, and both are […]

The 10 most endangered jobs in America

The 10 most endangered jobs in America

Are robots really taking away jobs from humans? Yes and no.

The good news is there will probably be an increase in hiring opportunities in most jobs over the next several years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and some economists .

The bad news is that some jobs are falling prey to automation as well as to changing consumer habits.Jobs platform CareerCast compiled data from the BLS and its own list of 200 common jobs to figure out which careers have the bleakest growth outlook from 2014 to 2024.Here are 10 fields that are expected to shrink the […]