Current events have revealed that there are two worlds in the employment landscape. One is digital, the other analog. For the most part, those in IT—the digital workers—have been unaffected by the spike in unemployment due to the economic side-effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. But, it doesn’t mean they’ll be untouched in the long-term. As […]
Full-Time Employment in the Age of Automation
Back in 1930, the economist John Maynard Keynes wrote a short essay, “Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren,” in which he predicted that in a hundred years the 15-hour work week will be commonplace. Keynes made this assertion based on two factors: first, the increase in capital due to extraordinary yields from the compound interest that […]
The ‘Blockbuster Effect’ in the Age Of Automation
Saying that new jobs will always be created to replace those that have been eliminated by automation is a mechanism for avoiding a real problem that’s lurking on the horizon. In 2004, at the height of its popularity, Blockbuster Video had more than 9,000 stores and employed more than 80,000 people worldwide. About 50,000 of […]
An Unanticipated Obstacle to Full Automation
I’ve been concerned about the impact of automation on human employment for a while. My research activity started after November 2016, when I decided I needed to learn whether the much-touted phrase, “We’re bringing back the jobs,” was valid or not. While it is true that some jobs in the United States have been exported […]