Tag: Technical

What Amazon’s decision to retrain a third of its employees means for the future of work

What Amazon’s decision to retrain a third of its employees means for the future of work

Amazon’s announcement that it will invest US$700 million to retrain 100,000 employees – a third of its U.S. workforce – in new technologies is the latest reminder that the much-heralded future of work is well underway.

Policymakers, analysts and scholars trying to discern the retailer’s motives and objectives chalked it up to a public relations move or the natural result of a tight labor market . Others deemed it standard retraining and investment .

Lost in the reaction, however, is what it means for the rest of us workers. As an expert in technology disruption , I believe the main message […]

The Educated Underclass: Students and Social Mobility

The Educated Underclass: Students and Social Mobility

Neither a policy paper nor a career guide, Gary Roth’s The Educated Underclass: Students and the Promise of Social Mobility ( Pluto Press ) is, in the author’s words, “an examination of that edge of reality where education and economy produce results just the opposite of what in theory it is claimed that they do.” Roth is a lecturer in sociology and anthropology, and former vice chancellor and dean, at Rutgers University at Newark.

I won’t revisit much of the ground covered in the interview with him that ran at Inside Higher Ed earlier this year. My intent, rather, is […]

Automation Reshaped The Workplace In The 1960’s But Will The Deep Learning Revolution Be Different?

Automation Reshaped The Workplace In The 1960's But Will The Deep Learning Revolution Be Different?

Postage stamp from 1960 commemorating the first automated post office. (Getty Images). Millions of jobs lost to automation. Pundits decrying that machines are increasingly displacing humans in the workforce. The federal government running advertising and training programs to retrain displaced workers for increasingly technical jobs in an era of automation with slogans like “You won’t get tomorrow’s job with yesterday’s skills!” A president who offers that “the major domestic challenge … [is] to maintain full employment at a time when automation, of course, is replacing [people].” While this perfectly describes 2019, it actually describes America half a century ago […]

In the future, will acquiring relevant skills matter more than earning a degree?

In the future, will acquiring relevant skills matter more than earning a degree?

There is much debate over whether the acquisition of skills will be more important than a degree in the future. Source: Unsplash There has been alot of talk about the need for graduates to acquire certain ‘soft skills’ if they are to survive in a future fueled by technologies such as automation and robotics.

These include critical thinking, collaborative thinking, innovation, relationship-building, communication, and more.

This has prompted discussions over whether college degrees will even be relevant for the next generation. An article by BigThink speculated that the traditional university setting will eventually become extinct.“With antiquated systems still in place, a […]

Jeff Bezos just sent a clear signal that AI will remake American jobs

Jeff Bezos just sent a clear signal that AI will remake American jobs

This story requires our BI Prime membership. To read the full article, simply click here to claim your deal and get access to all exclusive Business Insider PRIME content.

Amazon is retraining a third of its US workforce, the Wall Street Journal reports .

This is part of a larger trend in retraining. According to new ZipRecruiter research , half of Americans will need to change careers by 2030. Click here for more BI Prime stories. One of America’s largest tech titans is taking a new shape, and it’s a harbinger of retraining to come.Amazon […]

SADOW: Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs, And Here’s Proof How

SADOW: Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs, And Here’s Proof How

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Tweet Plus Comment Need another good reason to understand the utter folly of attempts to make Louisiana raise its minimum wage? Just observe those touchscreen checkouts when you walk into a store selling groceries.By now, informed individuals know full well that the minimum wage costs jobs and how, because almost no sole breadwinners of families work full-time at the minimum wage and even fewer of them are older than 25, the modal category of such workers are young, recent job force entrants who have no dependents and live in a household with others […]

It’s Not Robots That Hurt Workers

It’s Not Robots That Hurt Workers

(Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP/Getty Images) Education is the job-killer lurking beneath the economy’s surface. Consider an exemplary employer making major investments in training for each of his 100 workers, even covering tuition for those who might benefit from technical courses at a local college. Say the investments have incredible returns, too—by the end of the year, each worker is twice as productive and 50 can do the work that last year required 100. That means 50 jobs have been destroyed.

Does that sound nonsensical? It should. Yet change “education” to “automation” or “technology” and you have the conventional wisdom that […]

Automation Strategy Document Template Testing Mckinsey Test Templa

Automation Strategy Document Template Testing Mckinsey Test Templa

McKinsey: AI, jobs, and workforce automation | ZDNet

McKinsey: AI, jobs, and workforce automation | ZDNet Automation Could Eliminate 73 Million U.S. Jobs By 2030 [Infographic]

McKinsey reveals skills needed to survive automation Half of paid work can be automated: McKinsey report, Economy News … Automation potential and wages for US jobs [McKinsey Global Institute] Automation And Your Career: McKinsey Predicts Your Destiny The future is automated, but what does that really mean for jobs … McKinsey reveals skills needed to survive automation Next Generation Automation u2013 Frank Diana u2013 Medium McKinsey The technical potential for automation in the […]

‘Ghost Work’ in Modi’s India: Exploitation or Job Creation?

‘Ghost Work’ in Modi’s India: Exploitation or Job Creation?

Mary L. Gray and Siddharth Suri, Ghost Work: How to Stop Silicon Valley from Building a New Global Underclass , Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019

Many of the apps we use—as smart and as fast as they appear—cannot function without people working behind the scenes to fill in the gaps. Machines are not as good as humans (yet) at figuring out whether a tweet is offensive or deciding whether an Uber driver’s authentication selfies match from one day to the next. But who are these hidden workers? Where do they live? New research from anthropologist Mary L. Gray and computer scientist […]

The Terminator Myth: It’s Not Robots That Hurt Workers

The Terminator Myth: It’s Not Robots That Hurt Workers

Education is the job-killer lurking beneath the economy’s surface. Consider an exemplary employer making major investments in training for each of his 100 workers, even covering tuition for those who might benefit from technical courses at a local college. Say the investments have incredible returns, too—by the end of the year, each worker is twice as productive and 50 can do the work that last year required 100. That means 50 jobs have been destroyed.

Does that sound nonsensical? It should. Yet change “education” to “automation” or “technology” and you have the conventional wisdom that countless economists and politicians are […]