a future of robot-made abundance and of human misery, or at minimum, human uselessness. [italics added]Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution the world economy has dramatically increased the quantity and quality of goods and services produced. Technology, process improvements, and capitalist competition have driven the automation of repetitive tasks. Lower-skilled jobs--and crafts related to declining industries, e.g., buggy whips--have been replaced by higher-skilled occupations. It hasn't been smooth, but thus far jobs created have equalled or exceeded the jobs destroyed.
Until now, perhaps.
The employed-to-total population has stayed below 60% for over six years; it hasn't been this low since the sharp recession during Ronald Reagan's first term.
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| Bureau of Labor Statistics data |
believe that rapid technological change has been destroying jobs faster than it is creating them, contributing to the stagnation of median income and the growth of inequality in the United States. And, they suspect, something similar is happening in other technologically advanced countries.Happy Labor Day!
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