http://www.edn.com/article/CA6694951.html
Do you ever wake up and wish you could send a robot to work in your place? Or does the thought of your value being replaced by a machine frighten you? Here is an excerpt from an article that discusses the impact robots and technology could have on our economy in the future:
"Clark writes that the current downturn is a minor blip in technology-driven economic growth, and, he cautions, 'The economic problems of the future will not be about growth but about ... the ineluctable increase in the number of people with no marketable skills and technology's role not as the antidote to social conflict, but as its instigator' as machines displace people."
***Note, I did not edit this before he posted!!!
Jobs in many facets of our economy have been replaced, and are currently being replaced, by technology. How many cashier jobs have been lost due to self-checkout? How about food service jobs due to automated cooking devices? Data entry jobs to computer automation? Agricultural jobs to farm equipment? This basic list could go on indefinitely.
However, advances in technology have also created new jobs in opposite facets of the economy. Self-checkout machines, automated cooking devices, software automation, and farm equipment all require people to conceptualize, design, repair, and improve upon. In short, our capitalist economy is the great equalizer; what is bad for one person is usually good for someone else. To steal a line from Jurassic Park, "life finds a way."
Advances in technology have been made since the beginning of time, going all the way back to the wheel. Think of where our economy would be without power generators, cell phones, or satellites? Overall, world economic activity is stronger than it ever has been in history as a result of technology and automation (the current economic downturn is barely a blip compared with the rest of economic history). I can not imagine a circumstance in which technology works against our economy, and that includes seeing more robots in daily life.
Much more frightening for the future economy than advances in technology are the realities of population aging and, of course, tax policy. In this country, our own economy is about twenty years away from experiencing a large increase in median age. This will create a situation in which less people are working to support and sustain the country, making our economy weaker and our ability to advance and innovate technologically diminished.
In terms of tax policy, certain states in the United States currently have the highest tax rate in the world. As globalization increases and more countries become a part of the global economy, owning and/or operating a business in the United States will become even less profitable, resulting in less jobs and less diplomatic/military power. The world growing more competent economically can be a good thing for the United States and our employment rates, as long as we remain competitive. We literally are the opposite of competitive in terms of taxes today.
Until we meet again, goodbye!
Great blog Joe! Everyone fears that technology will take away jobs without looking at it from the other side. That's at least the third time I've heard you reference Jurassic Park though.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the supplemental material to the podcast re: robot discussion. Great point that for every job lost due to self-checkout technology etc. one is created for the technicians/repairmen and designers that have to create and upkeep said technology. I suppose the question this raises is that obviously those jobs are much more specialized than a cashier (for instance could any of the TOPS cashiers design/conceptualize/repair the self checkout technology? My guess is no. So the question is does technology take jobs away from laymen (blue collar workers) and only create them for more skilled workers? And is that a bad thing? I would argue it certainly encourages people to further pursue academic means in order to become more specialized and have access to such jobs -- and for those who choose not to, should we really feel bad if they don't have jobs?
ReplyDeleteShould we discuss this on the podcast at all?
Drewbe,
ReplyDeleteWe should definietly discuss this on the podcast further!
I would say that losing low skilled jobs to high skilled jobs is a good thing for the overall economy. Over time, as long as education is within financial reach, more people that would not have gotten an education will have to get one in order to survive. This will make our citizens more skilled and better able to compete with other countries economically (and create more jobs here at home).
I don't think technology takes away jobs from low skilled workers. We are always going to need low skilled workers in our economy, unless we plan on stocking store shelves ourselves and cleaning bathrooms after we are done with our first jobs. As our workforce becomes more educated, we should be able to create even more jobs in this country than are currently available, making low skilled workers in even higher demand.
I think our changing population, however, combined with higher education levels, will create a situation in which there are not enough people to work the low skilled jobs, which is a different problem entirely.
Joe