Tag: Technology

Why Don’t All Jobs Matter?

Why Don’t All Jobs Matter?

President Trump is still promising to bring back coal jobs. But the underlying reasons for coal employment’s decline — automation, falling electricity demand , cheap natural gas, technological progress in wind and solar — won’t go away.

Meanwhile, last week the Treasury Department officially (and correctly) declined to name China as a currency manipulator, making nonsense of everything Mr. Trump has said about reviving manufacturing.

So will the Trump administration ever do anything substantive to bring back mining and manufacturing jobs? Probably not.But let me ask a different question: Why does public discussion of job loss focus so intensely on mining […]

Robots displace millions of Manufacturing Workers in US: Automation getting Cheaper and more Common

Robots displace millions of Manufacturing Workers in US: Automation getting Cheaper and more Common

US, April 15, 2017: The impact of automation on U.S. jobs is open to debate. Robots have displaced millions of manufacturing workers, and automation is getting cheaper and more common, raising concerns it will eventually supplant far more workers in the services sector of the economy, which includes everything from truck driving to banking.

University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Ed Hess says we are just starting to see automation’s impact. “It is going to be broad and it is going to be deep,” he said, adding that “tens of millions” of jobs could be at risk.

Data from […]

Will Robots Replace Human Drivers, Doctors and Other Workers?

Will Robots Replace Human Drivers, Doctors and Other Workers?

The impact of automation on U.S. jobs is open to debate. Robots have displaced millions of manufacturing workers, and automation is getting cheaper and more common, raising concerns it will eventually supplant far more workers in the services sector of the economy, which includes everything from truck driving to banking.

University of Virginia Darden School of Business Professor Ed Hess says we are just starting to see automation’s impact. "It is going to be broad and it is going to be deep," he said, adding that "tens of millions" of jobs could be at risk.

Data from the Bureau of Labor […]

We have no idea how robots and automation are impacting jobs

We have no idea how robots and automation are impacting jobs

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently convened a committee to investigate the impact of technology on jobs. In its 184-page paper , published yesterday, 13 experts in economics and computer science reported that, well, they don’t have enough data to determine exactly how automation, robots, and innovations like the on-demand economy are affecting employment.

“Despite much anecdotal evidence suggesting that big changes are under way, surprisingly little data are available to help determine which anecdotes correspond to significant country-wide or economy-wide trends,” they wrote.

Fears that automation and robots will lead to widespread unemployment have been alive and […]

Yes, the Robots Are Coming for Our Jobs

In fact, they’ve been coming for quite a while. (Photo: Alex Knight/Unsplash) In recent years, more than a few economists, politicians , and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have expressed concerns about the coming “robot revolution.” In fact, one of the major arguments in favor of a universal basic income is that the robots are coming for all of our jobs . It’s subject to debate exactly how far the potential effects of this revolution will trickle, but some economists estimate that up to 47 percent of American workers are at risk of losing their jobs due to automation. The World […]

Robots will change our jobs, more data will tell us how, new study suggests

Robots will change our jobs, more data will tell us how, new study suggests

FILE – In this Nov. 11, 2014 file photo, robots install rivets on a 2015 Ford F-150 truck at the Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich. Cheaper, better robots will replace human workers in the world’s factories at a faster pace over the next decade, pushing manufacturing labor costs down 16 percent, a report from the Boston Consulting Group said Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2015. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File) Updated 3 minutes ago

Advancements in technology, automation and robotics will change the nature of our workforce.

That is all but certain.But to what extent — how many jobs will it eliminate, create […]

Lehigh Valley manufacturing and the rise of the robots

Lehigh Valley manufacturing and the rise of the robots

VIDEO Local steel plant adding jobs… ALLENTOWN, Pa. – For many years now, America has been locked in a fierce debate about manufacturing jobs leaving the United States, where they are going, and why. When one digs into the numbers, it is indeed true that employment in the manufacturing sector has gone down. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are almost 2 million fewer factory jobs now in America than there were a decade ago.

But another less discussed fact is also true: during that same period of time, manufacturing production has gone up, after a significant dip […]

Automation and the Future of Work: Start the Nationwide Conversation

Automation and the Future of Work: Start the Nationwide Conversation

As the media continues to warn of an apocalyptic future where automation technology will fracture our employment landscape, Enate CEO Kit Cox, explains why innovation will override disaster.

When The World Economic Forum (WEF) released The Future of Jobs report in January 2016, it caused a stir amongst both companies and individuals with its controversial claims about the impact of technology on the future of work. The report claimed that within the next 15-20 years, we will see technologies “blurring the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres.” WEF founder Klaus Schwab, highlighted that these changes will fundamentally alter […]

Where Have All the Shop Clerks Gone?

Daniel Gross is executive editor of We often talk about software and robots taking over jobs and eliminating the need for human labor. It’s common to hear these concerns center around jobs in factories, or in the trucking and taxi industries. Some of these changes may be far in the distance, or may not come about at all due to social and cultural resistance (and the fact that sometimes sci-fi-tinged ideas just don’t come to fruition). In fact, there are lots of jobs open in areas that you would think would be negatively affected by automation. For example, 364,000 […]

Is Automation to Blame for the Loss of U.S. Jobs?

Is Automation to Blame for the Loss of U.S. Jobs?

Image courtesy of www.engadget.com. Donald Trump has been talking a lot about American jobs – specifically manufacturing jobs – and how we can bring them back. But where have those jobs gone? And can we get them back?

The US has lost 5 million manufacturing jobs since 2000. That leaves about 12 million jobs in this sector. Trump and other politicians say the loss of jobs is due to outsourcing to China, with its cheap and available labor force. But that’s only part of the story. Technology has replaced many of these jobs, and those won’t come back. This makes […]