Tag: Services

Fear of jobless future?

Fear of jobless future?

IT sector may lose 6.4 lakh “low-skilled” jobs to automation by 2021 The World Bank has recently released a report which underscores the threat awaiting India and other emerging economies from the onslaught of automation.

It says that 69 per cent of jobs in India and 77 per cent in China are under threat. Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nepal, and Thailand are also reported to be in the same boat. The biggest risk is faced by routine jobs like those of clerks, in which humans can be replaced easily by computer software.

India’s unemployment, according to the Census of 2011, increased from 6.8 […]

Political leaders are ignoring the real threat to American workers

Political leaders are ignoring the real threat to American workers

Evan Vucci/Associated Press A central tenet to President-elect Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was that free trade had decimated American manufacturing.

Workers across the country were having their jobs taken from them and given to lower wage workers at plants in Mexico, China, and other countries. Their lost jobs and economic success were because the amorphous establishment had failed to protect them from the future.

They are partially right. Elected leaders, both Democrats and Republicans, failed to protect and help them adapt to the changing economic landscape. However, it was not trade that did these workers in, but automation.According to the Brookings […]

Confusion about job creation is obscuring America’s productivity crisis

Confusion about job creation is obscuring America's productivity crisis

Robots work on a new Volkswagen Crafter production line at the newly opened Volkswagen factory in Wrzesnia near Poznan, Poland, in September. There is perhaps no other topic in economics that is more prone to illogical thinking than job creation. It is a wellspring of hysterical nonsense.

Let’s start with the canard that technology and automation kill jobs. Notwithstanding the fact that US productivity growth rates are at an all-time low, a growing chorus blames technology for killing our jobs. Writing in The New Yorker, NYU professor Gary Marcus alleges that, “as machines continue to get smarter, cheaper, and more […]

Automation, Jobs And The New Techno-Pessimism

Automation, Jobs And The New Techno-Pessimism

A strange vision is gaining traction in the developed world: a vision of a future economy so dramatically changed by technology that it is beyond recognition. This is not the apocalyptic prophecy of a real-world Skynet, turning computerised gadgets and artificial intelligence systems against the human population, but a growing fear of automation replacing people in an increasingly robotised world of work.

While it is plain to see how machines have improved humanity’s lot in the past despite putting their overlords out of work, some argue that this time, it is different. No doubt, sophisticated IT and AI are likely […]

Welcome to the future of work

Welcome to the future of work

Brooks Rainwater is the director of the Center for City Solutions and Applied Research at the National League of Cities .

How to join the network

Nicole DuPuis is the senior associate for infrastructure at the Center for City Solutions and Applied Research at the National League of Cities How to join the network With advances in information technology, robotics, and artificial intelligence developing at a rapid rate, workforce dislocations are happening now and are here to stay. As existing trends accelerate and irreversibly change the workforce as we know it, the question to be answered is–what will […]

How Robots Are Changing Minnesota’s Workforce

How Robots Are Changing Minnesota's Workforce

Photo by Ibrahim Hirsi/MinnPost Baxter, a two-armed robot, has been with Atlas Manufacturing for more than a year, performing tasks that would otherwise require two human operators. Atlas Manufacturing is just one of a growing number of places in Minnesota and across the country where automation is quickly and radically transforming the labor market.

On the main floor of Minneapolis-based Atlas Manufacturing, Baxter is hard at work: She places metal pieces on a giant machine in a process that bends and punches parts before picking up the pieces and carefully arranging them on a nearby counter.

It’s a repetitive task, […]

Trump’s Dismantling of Trade Deals Won’t Bring Most Jobs Back

Trump’s Dismantling of Trade Deals Won’t Bring Most Jobs Back

Trump in Charleston, West Virginia on May 5. Dramatic promises to restrict international trade were a signature element of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. So far, he seems to be following through. On Tuesday, he announced that he will withdraw U.S. participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership as one of his first acts in office.

Trump’s aggressive stance on trade helped him win working-class voters in Midwestern manufacturing states, where upset wins swept him into the White House. As president, Trump will be able to act on trade without approval by Congress. Both the U.S. Constitution and past acts of Congress give […]

Trump is right to ditch TPP. How about the WTO next?

Trump is right to ditch TPP. How about the WTO next?

President-elect Donald Trump faces heavy pressure from the establishment to abandon his campaign promises on trade policy. His announcement on Monday saying that he would pull out of President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) on his first day in office shows that he’s not giving in – and for the sake of a healthy economy he must stand his ground.

Tune into Worldwide Exchange on Wednesday Nov. 23 at 5:15 am when Alan Tonelson will make a guest appearance.

Trade supporters are employing arguments that have repulsed challengers for decades, at least in the halls of government: that the string […]

How robots are changing Minnesota’s workforce

How robots are changing Minnesota's workforce

Baxter, a two-armed robot, has been with Atlas Manufacturing for more than a year, performing tasks that would otherwise require two human operators. On the main floor of Minneapolis-based Atlas Manufacturing, Baxter is hard at work: She places metal pieces on a giant machine in a process that bends and punches parts before picking up the pieces and carefully arranging them on a nearby counter.

It’s a repetitive task, and at times, agonizing. But Baxter doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, she’s able to do the work around the clock throughout the year — without requiring lunch breaks. Or sick […]

Technology is exacerbating unemployment and wage stagnation – and it’s set to only get worse

Technology is exacerbating unemployment and wage stagnation – and it's set to only get worse

In Silicon Valley, only 1.8 per cent of workers are employed in new industries For most people, a secure, fairly paid job is the difference between a reasonable life and destitution. Today changes in the structure of the work force make this objective increasingly elusive.

Technology exacerbated declines in employment and incomes by eliminating certain tasks and deskilling many jobs. Robotics and complex computerised equipment successfully replaced often skilled labour. Computer software is now replacing journalists being able to synthesise news items electronically up crawling the worldwide web. Even traders in financial markets are being replaced by automated algorithms.

In the […]