As technology advances, productivity grows due to larger efficiency of robots over humans. 85% of job losses are due larger to machines replacing humans but due to this, productivity as increased drastically. Over the last 20 years, manufacturing output as increased by almost 40% and the annual added by U.S. factories have reached a record of 2.4 trillion. Obviously, this will increase unemployment but manufacturing employees are now better educated, earning more and producing more. Unemployment would be a short term effect but not a long term effect because the average age of a manufacturing worker is 45 which shows that the younger generations are having less interests in these jobs. New jobs would also be created for a more educated and skilled workforce which manufacturers will need to create, program and maintain the robots. As a result, both the manufacturers and workers benefit in the long run.
Presently, there is negativity on this issue because people are scared of losing their jobs but it has always been like this in the market. Advances in technology are vital for the economy to improve. People see only the short term effects like how it causes unemployment but do not focus on the long term effects like how it creates better jobs, increases productivity, efficiency and safety. They forget to realize that technology is meant to make our lives better and easier not worse and harder.
Link: https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/09/industrial-robots-will-replace-manufacturing-jobs-and-thats-a-good-thing/
With more advanced technology workers will be required to have more advanced sill set, which means a lot of jobs will require higher education or at least training before workers go into the field. It is easy for people who have no access to such things to fear that they will lose their jobs, even in long-term this will raise their standard of living.
ReplyDeleteThis article is very interesting because it is showing that technology and new machinery is not taking jobs from people, but it is just changing them which mean that it is creating new jobs as it is making some disappear like manufacturing. But this causes problems and it is understandable for workers to fear this changes, because for example the people working in manufacturing that have a very high age average (45 years), are probably not looking to change their job and have to get new skills since they are looking to retire soon. So they could probably just decide not look for another job and be a discouraged worker. It would be interesting to see if the government is doing something to help these people, and also to know if the government should do something to help them find a solution for this problem.
ReplyDeleteIt is crazy to me that how much growth there is in technology. It's crazy that robots are going to take over most of jobs that we have. It feels as it is the most efficient way to increase production
ReplyDeleteThis article is very cool because, like most people, the thought of robots replacing humans was not one which sat well with me. However, this article shows that in long run, especially in terms of efficiency and productivity, us humans will only benefit from advancements in technology.
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