Tag: Technology

Here’s new evidence minimum wage hikes result in workers being replaced by robots

Here's new evidence minimum wage hikes result in workers being replaced by robots

There is new evidence that raising the minimum wage pushes business owners to replace low-skilled workers with automation. And it shows that old, young, female and black low-skilled workers face the highest levels of unemployment after a minimum wage increase.

Economists Grace Lordan of the London School of Economics and David Neumark of UC Irvine studied 35 years of government census data for their working paper, which was released in August, titled " People Versus Machines: The Impact of Minimum Wages on Automatable Jobs ."

"Based on [current population survey] data from 1980-2015, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases […]

How do we move forward in the ‘new economy’?

How do we move forward in the ‘new economy’?

New laws on free public Internet access (Republic Act [RA] 10929) and free-education tuition (RA 10931) have been getting ample exposure, as the current administration seeks to advance its agenda for inclusive development. While these are notable steps toward efforts to boost prospects for economic growth through enhancing productivity and strengthening competitiveness, there are more significant technological shifts already reshaping our lives at breathtaking speed.

In 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Professor Klaus Schwab has written the book entitled The Fourth Industrial Revolution about the fusion of new technologies in mainstream discussion. He asserts that “there has never been […]

Here’s new evidence minimum wage hikes result in workers being replaced by robots

Here's new evidence minimum wage hikes result in workers being replaced by robots

There is new evidence that raising the minimum wage pushes business owners to replace low-skilled workers with automation. And it shows that old, young, female and black low-skilled workers face the highest levels of unemployment after a minimum wage increase.

Economists Grace Lordan of the London School of Economics and David Neumark of UC Irvine studied 35 years of government census data for their working paper, which was released in August, titled " People Versus Machines: The Impact of Minimum Wages on Automatable Jobs ."

"Based on [current population survey] data from 1980-2015, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases […]

If you don’t want to lose your job to a robot, don’t think like one

If you don’t want to lose your job to a robot, don’t think like one

Don’t be this guy The American job market holds few guarantees, and its future might hold even fewer. But in making critical career decisions, here’s a question you might ask yourself:

Am I a Roomba?

Chris Adami, a theoretical physicist and Michigan State University professor with a knack for breaking down artificial intelligence into simple terms, explains.A Roomba – the robotic floor sweeper – he said, is a familiar and easily understood example of how artificial intelligence works: “It senses the environment it’s in. It moves around, using an intelligent algorithm. Its reaction is appropriate given the sensory input it has.”This, […]

Rep. Dollens: As automation threatens jobs, initiatives seek to prepare workers for future

In 2014, I worked as a roughneck on a drilling rig that had been built in the 1970s. This rig, four decades old, required countless man hours to ensure that it ran smoothly. Everything — from throwing chains, working the tongs and making connections — had to be done by hand. It was grueling work, but I valued the friendships I built out there with those working beside me.

About a year later, I was moved to a new rig, this one state-of-the art. What used to take four people working out in the sun could now be done by […]

Richard Branson says universal basic income ‘important’ as tech reduces jobs

Richard Branson says universal basic income 'important' as tech reduces jobs

CEO and Founder of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson speaks at Climate Week NYC event at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City on September 22, 2014. On August 14, the billionaire came out in favor of universal basic income due to the possibility technology will reduce jobs. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 17 (UPI) — Billionaire Sir Richard Branson said in a blog post that universal basic income might be a valid method of dealing with the advent of technology reducing the overall number of jobs for workers.

"A lot of exciting new innovations are […]

Minimum Wage Hikes and Automation Risks

Minimum Wage Hikes and Automation Risks

A couple years ago, I wrote , Other studies show that an increased minimum wage causes firms to incrementally move toward automation. Now, this too could be seen as a trade-off: automation and technological progress tend to make processes more efficient and therefore increase productivity (and eventually wages ), raising living standards for consumers (which include the poor). Nonetheless, the point is that while unemployment in the short-term may be insignificant, the long-term effects could be much bigger. For example, one study finds that minimum wage hikes lead to lower rates of job growth: about 0.05 percentage points a […]

End of the checkout line: the looming crisis for American cashiers

End of the checkout line: the looming crisis for American cashiers

he day before a fully automated grocery store opened its doors in 1939, the inventor Clarence Saunders took out a full page advertisement in the Memphis Press-Scimitar warning “old duds” with “cobwebby brains” to keep away. The Keedoozle , with its glass cases of merchandise and high-tech system of circuitry and conveyer belts, was cutting edge for the era and only those “of spirit, of understanding” should dare enter.

Inside the gleaming Tennessee store, shoppers inserted a key into a slot below their chosen items, producing a ticker tape list that, when fed into a machine, sent the goods traveling […]

Labor-short Japan more at home with automation than US

Labor-short Japan more at home with automation than US

MORIYA, Japan – Thousands upon thousands of cans are filled with beer, capped and washed, wrapped into six-packs, and boxed at dizzying speeds — 1,500 a minute, to be exact — on humming conveyor belts that zip and wind in a sprawling factory near Tokyo.

Nary a soul is in sight in this picture-perfect image of Japanese automation.The machines do all the heavy lifting at this plant run by Asahi Breweries, Japan’s top brewer. The human job is to make sure the machines do the work right, and to check on the quality the sensors are monitoring."Basically, nothing […]

Study Shows That Minimum Wage Hikes Put More Jobs at Risk of Automation

Study Shows That Minimum Wage Hikes Put More Jobs at Risk of Automation

Researchers from the National Bureau of Economic Research have published a paper noting a relationship between automation and the minimum wage. From 1980 to 2015, a $1 increase in the minimum wage resulted in a 0.43 percent decline in automatable jobs. Benefiting Whom, Exactly?

The desire for a higher wage is pretty self explanatory. However, the impact a minimum wage increase could have on society is not so clear.

In an effort to shed light on this subject, researchers at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) conducted a study , and they’ve concluded that a minimum wage hike might […]