Tag: Technology

Wisconsin Is a Global Trade Winner

Wisconsin Is a Global Trade Winner

Mining Equipment staged to go out to the Netherlands, April 2015. Photo by Peter Hirthe. Anyone who read a Monmouth College Poll from back in 2011 might have predicted the unexpected rise of Donald Trump . The poll found Midwestern residents — by huge margins — saw themselves as losers from global trade , just as Trump would insist in his campaign.

Some of the poll’s key findings:
-64 percent felt the Midwest lost more from global trade and just 20 percent felt it gained.
-64 percent said it cost the Midwest jobs; only 19 percent said it created jobs. […]

Dutch anger is about robots, and immigrants

Dutch anger is about robots, and immigrants

“Robotization is taking our jobs,’’ says Niek Stam, leader of the FNV Havens labor union that represents the stevedores loading and unloading cargo at Rotterdam’s port. “Dockers won’t vote for [Geert] Wilders because they’re racist — they aren’t. They’ll vote for him because they’re angry.” Stam is shown in his Rotterdam office on. MUST CREDIT: Jasper Juinen — Bloomberg Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, speaks during a Europe of Nations and Freedom meeting in Koblenz, Germany, on. MUST CREDIT: Martin Leissl — Bloomberg

From the towering offices of Rotterdam’s port authority, you can watch the never-ending stream […]

The New Jobs Mantra: It’s Time To Be Selfish, Really Selfish

The New Jobs Mantra: It’s Time To Be Selfish, Really Selfish

Don’t just ask where are the jobs, but ask whether you are ready for the jobs that are available.

The future belongs to the independent and the brave, not the passive.

The message from the IT industry to employees who may be rendered redundant in a changing work environment is: “go, look after your interests by upskilling or right-skilling”.Sangeeta Gupta, senior vice-president of the software services industry lobby Nasscom, is quoted by Business Standard as saying this: “An aspect of diversity in the industry is going to be self-learning. It is no more going to be like Infosys will take you […]

Geoff Johnson: How do we prepare kids for changing jobs?

Given limitless power, an unconstrained budget and a warm, safe place to sleep, I still would not want to be the person responsible for planning the future of public education. Not at any price.

This is not the place to enter the age-old academic debate about the overall purposes of education — individual fulfilment or preparation for employment. Legendary educator and philosopher John Dewey said: “The general purpose of school is to transfer knowledge and prepare young people to participate in a democratic society.”

The reality is that participation will involve finding something useful and fulfilling to do.But when we read […]

Innovation key to India surviving next industrial revolution

It is not often that the world finds itself at the cusp of a revolution, and an industrial one is even more uncommon. India missed the bus on the first major industrial revolution that was brought about in 18th century Britain, on account of being on the wrong side of colonial history. No other phase of innovation has transformed the industrial landscape to a similar extent, except the digital revolution in the latter half of the 20th century.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, we are about to witness the next industrial revolution, which has the potential to change the way we live, […]

More manufacturing, fewer jobs. Is there a solution?

More manufacturing, fewer jobs. Is there a solution?

Technology and automation have impacted a range of industries, including printing. Manufacturing makes more products than ever before, but not the jobs that once went with them. How can struggling economies resurrect their rust belt regions when factories employ more machines than people?

In a cavernous building on the outskirts of Sydney’s CBD, a lone worker tends to a massive printing machine churning out 70,000 magazines an hour.

Not so long ago, it would have taken six workers to do the job, but advances in technology and automation mean printers at Blue Star Web are able to produce more with less […]

Can Uber Tame Its Brutal Soul?

Can Uber Tame Its Brutal Soul?

The NewCo Daily: Today’s Top Stories

Ivan Gushchin | Flickr Engineer Susan Fowler set off a firestorm last week with a post describing her experiences during a year’s employment at Uber. It was hard to tell which was worse to read about — the incidents of sexual harassment she described, or the inadequate (or nonexistent) response to her treatment by the firm’s management and human-resources team.

Uber, of course, has always been known for a brash, bare-knuckles culture. But Fowler’s account somehow broke through the industry’s indifference with telling, all-too-credible detail. Maybe it was the immunity seemingly granted “high performing” […]

Jobs Most at Risk of Being Replaced by Robots

Jobs Most at Risk of Being Replaced by Robots

How would you feel if your boss tapped you on the shoulder and said, in a deadpan voice, “Please gather your things and leave. Your job will now be performed by a model XQJ-37 Robo-Beeper.” You might say, “Beep you.” But it wouldn’t get you very far (and might result in a call for a security escort) because jobs by the millions are falling away to machines that can think faster, move more efficiently, and don’t complain or join a union when they’re asked to work overtime.

It’s a Good Time to be Creative

Industrial robots have been deployed […]

World Robotics Federation IFR: Why Bill Gates’ Robot Tax is Wrong

FRANKFURT, Germany–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

The following is a statement by the World Federation of Robotics IFR:

"Bill Gates´ latest idea to tax robots aims to solve a problem that does not exist: empirical analysis of economic data and forecasts shows that automation and the use of robots create new jobs by increasing productivity. This is in line with the historical experience of technological revolutions, last seen when computers and software automated the business world. To tax production tools instead of their profits would have a negative impact on competitiveness and employment. This is presumably why the European Parliament rejected the idea […]

Will automation take away all our jobs? | David Autor

Will automation take away all our jobs? | David Autor

Advanced US 119 Collection ONOFF

Report Subtitle Errors Here’s a startling fact:
in the 45 years since the introduction of the automated teller machine,
those vending machines that dispense cash, the number of human bank tellers employed in the United States has roughly doubled, from about a quarter of a million to a half a million. A quarter of a million in 1970 to about a half a million today, with 100,000 added since the year 2000. These facts, revealed in a recent book by Boston University economist James Bessen, […]