Automation’s Destruction of Jobs: You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet

Employers have no choice: it’s innovate/automate or die. Automation–networked robotics, software and processes–has already had a major impact on jobs. As this chart from my colleague Gordon T. Long illustrates, the rise of Internet technologies is reflected in the steady, long-term decline of the labor force participation rate– the percentage of the populace that is actively in the labor market. *** The oft-repeated fantasy is that every new wave of technological innovation creates more jobs than it destroys. Not this time: the total number of full-time jobs has stagnated for years, and most of the new jobs that have been created are in low-wage, moderate-skill positions that cannot move the productivity needle much: jobs such as those in the retail and restaurant sectors.

This post was published at Charles Hugh Smith on WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2017.