Non-partisan Article on Unemployment

[O Really]

http://news.msn.com/us/loss-of-middle-c ... h-advances

Five years after the start of the Great Recession, the toll is terrifyingly clear: Millions of middle-class jobs have been lost in developed countries the world over.

And the situation is even worse than it appears.

Most of the jobs will never return, and millions more are likely to vanish as well, say experts who study the labor market. What's more, these jobs aren't just being lost to China and other developing countries, and they aren't just factory work. Increasingly, jobs are disappearing in the service sector, home to two-thirds of all workers.

They're being obliterated by technology.

[rstrong]

Technology did away with with all the horse, stable and buggy manufacturing jobs. And yet the Teamsters Union membership did very well after actual teamsters were no longer needed. The automotive industry created at least as many new jobs as the old ones it obliterated.

I wrote the company accounting system. I'm still adding features, these days mostly web-related for the dealer network to find the right parts and place orders. I've taken away a lot of the repetitive drudgework. Instead of people taking orders over the phone - with lots of parts lookup involved - the dealers are now doing most of the parts lookup and order entry.

And yet we now have MORE people sitting in front of computers than ever before. The technology allows us to do things we couldn't do before, and its created new jobs.

Japan has a rapidly aging population. With less workers available to look after more elderly, a LOT of money is being dumped into home robotics. That's going to bring about some major changes; personal robots can be used for other tasks. But I expect that they'll bring about new jobs, selling them, servicing them and adapting them to new tasks.

[Boatrocker]

I'll take the robot over the nursing home, hands down. Of course, like most health care and related services, it will only be available to the single-digit percentage who can afford it.

[O Really]

Technology did away with with all the horse, stable and buggy manufacturing jobs. And yet the Teamsters Union membership did very well after actual teamsters were no longer needed. The automotive industry created at least as many new jobs as the old ones it obliterated.

....

Historically that has been true, and probably the teamsters didn't know how they'd evolve and adapt at the time - and maybe tech will bring new jobs we can't currently envision. But the number of people that "self-service" via tech has already displaced is startling. Just in the fields of law and accounting, look at how much has consolidated.
But I hope you're right.

[rstrong]

I'll take the robot over the nursing home, hands down. Of course, like most health care and related services, it will only be available to the single-digit percentage who can afford it.

Only for a few years. The same could be said for automobiles, televisions, HDTVs, CD players, hot tubs etc. when introduced.

The wealthy pay for the initial high priced and not-ready-for-prime-time units, in turn paying for the initial investment by the manufacturers. The price comes down, more get sold, bringing the price down even more, etc. This happens with tech toys in a way that doesn't happen with other major purchases by the rich like mansions, yachts and senators.

[Boatrocker]

I'll take the robot over the nursing home, hands down. Of course, like most health care and related services, it will only be available to the single-digit percentage who can afford it.

Only for a few years. The same could be said for automobiles, televisions, HDTVs, CD players, hot tubs etc. when introduced.

The wealthy pay for the initial high priced and not-ready-for-prime-time units, in turn paying for the initial investment by the manufacturers. The price comes down, more get sold, bringing the price down even more, etc. This happens with tech toys in a way that doesn't happen with other major purchases by the rich like mansions, yachts and senators.

Not too many people will die or become permanently incapacitated while waiting for an affordable DVD player . . . .