Tag: Services

India’s unemployment problem may worsen as robots snatch away jobs

India’s unemployment problem may worsen as robots snatch away jobs

With prices falling thanks to China scaling up, mid-sized companies here are now able to afford robots, and they have gradually begun to displace humans on factory shopfloors

A decade back, Vienna-based Wienerberger, the world’s largest brick-maker, decided to take its first step into Asia and chose India over China. It spent ₹250 crore in building a factory in Kunigal village, 70 kilometres to the west of Bengaluru, next to a dry lake rich in clay. Today, the plant produces 70,000 blocks of hollow, chocolate-smooth blocks a day, the equivalent of 6 lakh conventional bricks.

Wienerberger India’s building block […]

Andrew Yang, Snake Oil Salesman

Andrew Yang, Snake Oil Salesman

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang speaks at the New Hampshire Democratic Party state convention in Manchester, September 7, 2019. Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and gadfly, has definitely cleared the bar for a successful cause candidate.

Not only has he exceeded expectations for his polling and fundraising, not only has he developed a cult following, not only has he got people talking about his signature idea, the universal basic income, he actually has other candidates expressing openness to it.

It’s too bad that Yang’s idea is a foolish response to a non-problem. Worse, Yang is trying to persuade people to fear and oppose […]

Andrew Yang’s (phantom) robot menace

Andrew Yang’s (phantom) robot menace

Enlarge Image Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and gadfly, has definitely cleared the bar for a successful cause candidate.

Not only has he exceeded expectations for his polling and fundraising, not only has he developed a cult following, not only has he got people talking about his signature idea, the universal basic income, he actually has other candidates expressing openness to it.

It’s too bad that Yang’s idea is a foolish response to a non-problem. Worse, Yang is trying to convince people to fear and oppose something that we need more of and that is a key to economic progress and […]

Why Is Andrew Yang So Afraid of Automation?

Why Is Andrew Yang So Afraid of Automation?

Win McNamee/Getty Images Andrew Yang, the tech entrepreneur and gadfly, has definitely cleared the bar for a successful cause candidate.

Not only has he exceeded expectations for his polling and fundraising, not only has he developed a cult following, not only has he got people talking about his signature idea, the universal basic income, he actually has other candidates expressing openness to it, as we saw during the debate Tuesday night. This is how an idea enters the bloodstream, and at least gets a chance at widespread acceptance.

It’s too bad that Yang’s idea is a foolish response to a nonproblem. […]

Economic Inequality & Employment

From shifting job categories , the disruption and decimation of industries, and an impending global skills mismatch, to the concentration of extreme wealth, income inequality, and avoidance of corporate taxes, Silicon Valley’s role in furthering economic inequality is hugely important, insufficiently understood, and under-actioned. The role technology plays in changing the conditions and types of employment, as well as reshaping global economics, is not the most publicized problem the industry has weathered, but it will be the next—and it will be the worst. Like other harmful social outcomes in which it is complicit, the tech industry’s mentality, priorities, and […]

Trump Should Focus on Warren, not Biden

Trump Should Focus on Warren, not Biden

President Donald Trump appears obsessed about getting something on former Vice President Joe Biden. Should he survive impeachment, however Sen. Elizabeth Warren is the opponent he should be worried about most.

Surging in the polls, the Massachusetts Democrat best speaks to the trials of Americans who came of age in this century and educated women – groups whose voting numbers are growing.

Much as Trump tapped displaced blue-collar workers and their offspring in smaller cities and rural areas often dependent on manufacturing -a cohort receding in importance as many skill-up and migrate to metropoles offering better job opportunities.That new economy-so often […]

Coolie

Coolie

That English word was used for Chinese men who migrated to America in the 19th and 20th centuries to work on construction projects, including railroads in the United States and, in the Philippines then still under the American occupation, Kennon Road in Baguio.

Coolie comes from two Chinese words: “ku” meaning difficult, and “li” meaning labor. Hard labor then, a term that
resonates with prison labor. The Chinese “ku” can also mean bitterness and sorrow.
Of all places, I thought of coolies during a trip to Binondo, the heart of our Chinatown, last weekend as we came close to a gridlock. […]

A global strike for a feminist future of work

A global strike for a feminist future of work

The IMF claims to be empowering women, but its programmes will only lead to more women doing precarious work. APWLD mobilisation against the IMF and World Bank, October 2018 Read more!

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Speculation around the future of work has dominated policy discussion among governments and international agencies, especially the UN and ILO, in recent years. The debate centers around how technology will disrupt the workforce, with focus on increased automation, machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). This has resulted in various policy recommendations ranging from retraining and upskilling, redesigning education systems, to flexibilisation of jobs.The World Bank […]

Robots to Replace 200,000 Banking Jobs: Report

Robots to Replace 200,000 Banking Jobs: Report

The next decade will see the greatest transfer from labor to capital the banking industry has ever seen.

That’s the conclusion of a report from analysts at Wells Fargo, which estimates that American banks will cut more than 200,000 jobs over the next 10 years, replacing workers with AI-based services and robots.

Mike Mayo, head of research at Wells Fargo Securities, estimates that call-center employees and tellers at bank branches will be the first to go, with as many as a third of those jobs disappearing. Tech, sales, and consulting positions will be less affected, but total estimated cuts could still […]

Job loss and automation trend in many industries

Job loss and automation trend in many industries

Wells Fargo report predicts over 200,000 jobs will be lost.

The banking industry is investing $150 billion a year into tech.

Automation technologies are becoming increasingly more sophisticated. A new era of banking is upon us. The advent and rise of A.I. technological prowess is a force to be reckoned with. No industry is safe. The latest to be in the crosshairs is the banking industry.A recent report from analysts at Wells Fargo & Co. estimates that over 200,000 jobs will be cut over the next decade, as they claim there will be the "greatest transfer from labour […]