New UN report on automation: low-skill jobs are disappearing much faster than expected, especially in the developing world

New UN report on automation: low-skill jobs are disappearing much faster than expected, especially in the developing world

Key findings: Increased use of robots in developed countries erodes traditional labour-cost advantage of developing countries.

Labour-intensive manufacturing in large developing countries with domestic production linkages is unlikely to be reshored to developed countries.

Whatever the impacts, outcomes will be shaped by policies. Developing countries need to redesign education policies and embrace the digital revolution – this approach should be combined with supportive macroeconomic, industrial and social policies. Abstract:Industrialization has historically been synonymous with development, while deindustrialization is a well-established trend in mature developed economies as they move towards services-based economies. Yet recent trends show that many developing countries […]

Why robotic process automation adoption is on the rise

Why robotic process automation adoption is on the rise

Robotic process automation (RPA) — a technology that enables software robots to replicate the actions of human workers for tasks such as data entry — has the potential to dramatically change the way companies approach many of their key business processes. Read More

It also can greatly boost the efficiency of the legacy applications that support those processes, so it should not be surprising that the technology is seeing a rapid adoption rate.

"RPA tools are not as sophisticated as the larger market but play a very important role," said Frances Karamouzis, research vice president and analyst at Gartner. […]

Dancing With The Robots

The increased use of robotics and automation in the manufacturing and logistics sectors will, over the next decade, limit East-West trade growth and lead to a reduction of supply chain and air freight personnel involved in handling and distribution, according to Wolfgang Lehmacher, Head of Supply Chain and Transport Industries at the World Economic Forum.
Lehmacher told FlyingTypers that the technological means and maturity to create autonomous supply and value chains was now almost here, and the adoption of new technologies could be seen in everything from flying shuttles to driverless cars and rolling robots. Citing Foxconn’s efforts to […]

No politician can keep a promise to bring back jobs – especially not Donald Trump

No politician can keep a promise to bring back jobs – especially not Donald Trump

‘Donald Trump was addressing widespread anxiety about the loss of jobs to globalisation, to downsizing, and other factors associated with the economic policies of the past 40 years.’ Photograph: Mark Wilson/Getty Images Donald Trump ran for president with the slogan of “Make America Great Again”. Implicit in this was the idea of making America work again.

Trump was addressing widespread anxiety about the loss of jobs to globalisation, to downsizing, and other factors associated with the economic policies of the past 40 years, and he was telling people that he would bring the jobs back.

Two things about this: the first […]

Need to reset economic thinking

Need to reset economic thinking

Peter Lyons. We are living in an age of rising inequalities on a variety of fronts, writes Peter Lyons.

My friend got her "proposed restructuring" letter two years ago. In the mumbo jumbo terminology of modern management, her position was being "disestablished". She had been in customer services with the firm for more than 10 years on a middle income. It took her six months to find alternative work. In her own words, she had been living in a bubble and hadn’t realised how tough the labour market had become. Salaries offered for similar roles had dropped significantly with […]

The United Nations claims automation will take 2/3rds of jobs in developing nations

The United Nations claims automation will take 2/3rds of jobs in developing nations

What a fitting time. Seeing as America just elected the least qualified party to handle the automation problem in America as well as a candidate promising the return of automatable jobs, we now know the sights and conflict are poised to wreck the fuck out of the developing world. They have it worse than many first world societies, where the concerns are one in three jobs are dissolved. All figures, assuming the worst of them pose true, are concerns for social conflict, insecurity, and instability.

Have some more darkly sobering news today . Some excerpts… Industrialization has historically been […]

Trump promises to bring back manufacturing jobs, but robots won’t let him

Trump promises to bring back manufacturing jobs, but robots won’t let him

For Americans struggling with stagnant wages, under- or un-employment, one of Donald Trump’s most appealing campaign promises was to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S.

Navigating the complexities of policy, tariffs and geopolitics would make that hard enough already for the president elect. But technology will make this promise nearly impossible to fulfill.

Why? Because manufacturing jobs are increasingly done by robots, not people.Robotics have already helped reduce reliance on labor overseas for manufacturers in automotive, electrical and electronics industries, according to a fresh policy report from the United Nations Conference on Trade & Development. And automation does allow manufacturers […]

Will automation render labour useless?

As the industrial revolution gradually took hold in England and other parts of Europe, machines increasingly came to replace manual labour. Not everybody was happy at this development, especially those who lost their means of earning bread and butter.

One group, later to be called the ‘Luddites’, resorted to violence and broke up machines that were intended to replace manual labour. Since that time, any anyone who casts aspersions on technological advancement and its effects on labour has been labelled Luddites.

Since the Industrial Revolution, Luddism has been kept in check largely owing to the fact that the requirement for human […]

It’s the one thing Trump and Clinton agree on – and it’s probably a fantasy

It’s the one thing Trump and Clinton agree on – and it’s probably a fantasy

On Sept. 8, 2010, General Motors workers cheer as the first Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan off the assembly line, at the GM factory in Lordstown, Ohio. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta) If there’s one thing Americans agree on, it’s collective nostalgia for the days when workers actually made things — when American factory workers earned good wages helping to crank out cars, refrigerators, furniture and other goods for consumers in the U.S. and around the world. So it’s no surprise that politicians are also united in pledging to bring those manufacturing jobs back to America, as both Donald Trump and Hillary […]

The Skills Delusion

The Skills Delusion

Adair Turner Everybody agrees that better education and improved skills, for as many people as possible, is 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’s 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 […]