We show that over the past 40 years, structural change within the labor market has revealed itself during downturns and recoveries. The arrival of robotics, computing, and information technology has allowed for a large-scale automation of routine tasks. This has meant that the elimination of middle-wage jobs during recessions has not been accompanied by the return of such jobs afterward. This is true of both blue-collar jobs, like those in production occupations, and white-collar jobs in office and administrative support occupations. Thus, the disappearance of job opportunities in routine occupations is leading to jobless recoveries. – Third Way: Jobless recoveries
The Phenomena
- Work is getting automated [references]
- We are moving to a post-job economy
- Crowd-milking
If you’re not picking up skills at your job, you are doing what I like to call an Uber-driver like job, one that can’t scale beyond the number of hours in a day, your career is doomed.
The pile of announcements about robots that will replace yet another line of work seems to grow by the day. From the perspective of the collective, this speaks to the need for major changes in the way we organize society. From that of the individual, it seems best to figure out how to ride out the waves in the meantime. As such, I think we should all keep an eye towards continual adaptation. The music is speeding up and the “good chairs” are disappearing faster than ever. If we want to keep playing the game, we might need to learn how to build our own seats on the fly.
Well said, Chris!
Chris, the ‘musical chairs’ metaphor well describes the impact of the technological (and scientific) imperative. I feel that we have not yet fully mastered, or directed these tools towards useful or beneficial outcomes.
The job is an Industrial Revolution (IR) creation. I believe, I hope, we are going back to the pre-IR work. Remember Toffler’s “The Third Wave” and his description of cottage-industries.