Robots taking jobs.

Four million jobs in the British private sector could be replaced by robots in the next decade, according to business leaders asked about the future of automation and artificial intelligence.



This is not good news for us on the Dole then is it   .

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/19/robots-could-take-4m-private-sector-jobs-within-10-years

Perhaps there should be a tax on robots as clearly there will be fewer humans paying tax on wages.

Another article about Robots in the work place.  

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/25/robots-taken-over-work-jobs-economy

And so the story continues. "Robots could destabilise world through war and unemployment, says UN"...  

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/27/robots-destabilise-world-war-unemployment-un

"UK’s poorest to fare worst in age of automation, thinktank warns".

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/dec/28/uks-poorest-to-fare-worst-in-age-of-automation-thinktank-warns

"The report said increased automation of activities would help to lift productivity levels and therefore could be used to pay for higher wages, acting to offset some of the £290bn in wages lost to machines. But if automation is managed poorly, it could lead to greater concentration of wealth for those at the top and a wider gap with the poorest in society. "

However, I feel the ones at the top will not be listening to this report? Also it mentions £290 Billion in wages, roughly how much tax will the State lose with this void of job loses?

Robots, UBI and a Tory toff all in one article:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/28/tory-mp-condemns-universal-basic-income-on-moral-grounds

I take issue with the notion that work gives identity and purpose; that may be true in a fulfilling career role but it does not apply to all jobs. Some jobs are just a source of income and nothing else.

Boles is writing from his position in an ivory tower. What exactly are these 2 year technical qualifications anyway, and more to the point, how are they proposed to help people displaced by technology?

"We’re hardwired to sleep, not to work"   Shows you how out of touch some of these people are?

"By contrast, the need for sleep really is hardwired, yet the world of work does not cater for the body’s natural rhythms of sleeping and waking, and most of us depend on a psychoactive drug (caffeine) to get us through the day. Sometimes this is supplied by our employer. There would be less sickness absence if people were able to sleep more (the afternoon siesta in some cultures is related to the body’s natural rhythms). However, such is the Tories’ lack of care about real human needs that it now appears that they are planning to scrap the working time directive (Report, 18 December). Progressive thinkers should view increasing automation as an opportunity to rethink work, including an expansion of leisure time for all and a universal income to support those displaced by robots in finding new work.


Dr David Hardman
Trustee, London Hazards Centre"


https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/dec/29/were-hardwired-to-sleep-not-to-work

The petition can be found here:-

https://campaign.goingtowork.org.uk/petitions/hands-off-our-holidays-don-t-let-boris-and-gove-scrap-our-working-time-rights

The Robots Are Coming, and Sweden Is Fine
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/business/the-robots-are-coming-and-sweden-is-fine.html

"Eighty percent of Swedes express positive views about robots and artificial intelligence, according to a survey this year by the European Commission. By contrast, a survey by the Pew Research Center found that 72 percent of Americans were “worried” about a future in which robots and computers substitute for humans.

In the United States, where most people depend on employers for health insurance, losing a job can trigger a descent to catastrophic depths. It makes workers reluctant to leave jobs to forge potentially more lucrative careers. It makes unions inclined to protect jobs above all else.Yet in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, governments provide health care along with free education. They pay generous unemployment benefits, while employers finance extensive job training programs. Unions generally embrace automation as a competitive advantage that makes jobs more secure.

Making the United States more like Scandinavia would entail costs that collide with the tax-cutting fervor that has dominated American politics in recent decades.

Sweden, Denmark and Finland all spend more than 27 percent of their annual economic output on government services to help jobless people and other vulnerable groups, according to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The United States devotes less than 20 percent of its economy to such programs."

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/27/business/the-robots-are-coming-and-sweden-is-fine.html

I would be lead to believe by the article that the Swede's are 'Ok' with this change is  because they have a 'welfare safety'(UBI) net to protect the most effected by this robotic-revolution  

Robot warning over living wage rise
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42559226

A similar article here, about company's using robots to cut costs

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jan/04/fears-minimum-wage-rise-more-jobs-risk-automation?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=259145&subid=19341285&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2