Tag: Services

The answer to America’s working class job crisis is hard, but not mysterious

The answer to America's working class job crisis is hard, but not mysterious

View Caption Melanie Stetson Freeman/The Christian Science Monitor/File

Malden, Mass. — Antonio Blanc, a senior at Malden High School, knows the risk of being left behind.

He’s struggled to keep up at school, distracted by family instability and the part-time kitchen jobs he needs to pay the bills now he’s living alone. His plan after graduation is to enroll in a technical college and get a certificate in precision machinery.“I want to learn a skill, something I can do when I’m done with school,” he says.For students like Mr. Blanc, that step of education beyond high school holds the […]

Cobotisation – the solution to Industry 4.0 in Singapore

Traditionally, robots sit in the factory within a finite space and with fixed rules, a safe distance away from its human operators. Today, the capabilities of robots have grown and humans and robots can almost work hand in hand. This may have resulted in the fear of robots for taking over jobs or the loss of the "human touch".

Against the backdrop of the tightening labour market and rising manpower costs, adopting robotic technology could potentially boost productivity, in addition to strengthening competitiveness and generating growth, whilst retaining staff employment. Studies have shown that robotics and automation have made a […]

Sorry Pundits, Robots And Automation Are The Sole Reason To Support The Cruel Minimum Wage

Sorry Pundits, Robots And Automation Are The Sole Reason To Support The Cruel Minimum Wage

To avoid any misunderstanding, it’s important to say up front that the minimum wage is a cruel offense to common sense. Leaving statistics out of an argument that should solely be about the freedom of the individual to transact, the simple truth is that wage floors are harmful to those eager to gain useful work experience. The minimum wage should be zero .

When we lack experience in a certain field, or work experience altogether, we should be free to offer up our services for nothing in order to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to earn a wage. As […]

How robots are going to change our world for the better

How robots are going to change our world for the better

How artificial intelligence and robots will radically transform the global economy, writes Kevin Maney Humanoid robot bartender "Carl" prepares a drink for a guest at the Robots Bar and Lounge in the eastern German town of Ilmenau. NEXT time you stop for petrol at a self-serve pump, say hello to the robot in front of you. Its life story can tell you a lot about the robot economy roaring toward us like an EF5 tornado on the prairie.

Yeah, your automated petrol pump killed a lot of jobs over the years, but its biography might give you hope that the […]

America’s 25 Dying Industries

Valued at nearly $20 trillion, the U.S. economy is the largest in the world. Maintaining a competitive edge necessitates remaining diversified and dynamic. While this means that some U.S. industries thrive, others inevitably decline or are rendered obsolete.

As certain industries fade, so do hundreds of thousands of American jobs. 24/7 Wall St. analyzed employment figures from 2006 to 2015 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine the 25 fastest dying industries. Employment in each industry on this list declined by at least 43%, and in the top two by at least 80%.

At least one of three broad factors […]

Manufacturing Goes Where the Robots Are

Manufacturing Goes Where the Robots Are

In the eight months since engineer John Crews’ book on the robot future hit shelves, the global political climate has changed so drastically that Robonomics now reads like an outsider political treatise. The survey of the fourth industrial revolution explores a heavily automated future in which governments supply citizens with basic income and concerns about job loss are couched in broader conversations about ending scarcity and the socio-economic problems it presents. It’s a coherent vision of progress, but one that does jibe with the results of the US presidential election or the Brexit vote, both of which galvanized a […]

Carrier & The Broken Window Narrative

Carrier & The Broken Window Narrative

Lance Roberts Trump saves jobs in Indiana before even being President. This is how you make ‘America Great Again. Between promises to cut corporate taxes from 35% to 15%, reduce regulatory burdens and penalize companies who leave the U.S., markets, economists and analysts are all trying to figure out what it means. As I noted on Tuesday , the always-bullish analysts are already pushing up corporate earnings to record levels while the mainstream media is fostering the idea of an economic resurgence to levels last seen during the Reagan Administration. In turn, this will result in higher inflation, higher […]

Let’s not freak out about the “next major job killer” just yet

Let’s not freak out about the “next major job killer” just yet

Humans: still useful. Amazon Go, the company’s latest store concept , allows shoppers to take products off shelves and walk out the door without waiting in a checkout line or dealing with a cashier. Instead, sensors and computer vision keep tabs on how much to charge customers’ Amazon accounts for their purchases.

By ostensibly eliminating the need for any human interaction, many have concluded that Amazon Go must be, as the New York Post put it, “the next major job killer to face Americans.” About 3.5 million people in the US work as cashiers, according to the Bureau of Labor […]

Automation is inevitable. Here’s how to make sure we create jobs, not just destroy them.

Automation is inevitable. Here’s how to make sure we create jobs, not just destroy them.

In October, Uber-owned Otto announced that it had completed the first commercial driverless truck delivery in Colorado. In November, McDonald’s announced that it was rolling out touchscreen ordering systems nationwide. Now, Amazon is opening a new convenience store with no checkout lines and no cashiers.

Add it all up, and it looks like an apocalyptic future for low-skilled workers. Cashiers and fast food workers are near the top of the government’s list of the jobs that employ the most people in the United States, with 3.3 million and 2.9 million workers working at these jobs, respectively. Truck drivers account for […]

Automation is inevitable. Here’s how to make sure we create jobs, not just destroy them.

Automation is inevitable. Here's how to make sure we create jobs, not just destroy them.

In October, Uber-owned Otto announced that it had completed the first commercial driverless truck delivery in Colorado. In November, McDonald’s announced that it was rolling out touchscreen ordering systems nationwide. Now, Amazon is opening a new convenience store with no checkout lines and no cashiers.

Add it all up, and it looks like an apocalyptic future for low-skilled workers. Cashiers and fast food workers are near the top of the government’s list of the jobs that employ the most people in the United States, with 3.3 million and 2.9 million workers working at these jobs, respectively. Truck drivers account for […]