The Future of Work: 80 Million U.S. Jobs at Risk from Automation

Image Courtesy of The Bank of England

80 million U.S. jobs are at risk from automation, a central bank official said on Thursday November 12th, 2015.

Bank of England Chief Economist Andy Haldane, speaking at the Trades Union Congress in London, said 80 million U.S. and 15 million U.K. jobs are in danger of being taken over by robots.
In October, the U.S. employed close to 143 million people outside the farm sector. Haldane added the jobs that are most at risk from automation tend to have the lowest wage.

In other words, technology could act like a regressive income tax on the unskilled. It could further widen income disparities.

This could actually end up boosting demand for new goods from new industries requiring new workers.

Yet the smarter machines become, the greater the likelihood that the space remaining for uniquely-human skills could shrink further.

 
Via MarketWatch

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Nikolas Badminton is a world-respected futurist speaker that researches, speaks, and writes about the future of work, how technology is affecting the workplace, how workers are adapting, the sharing economy, and how the world is evolving. He appears at conferences in Canada, USA, UK, and Europe. Email him to book him for your radio, TV show, or conference.