Political Economy: Machines Taking Away Our Jobs

Machines Taking Away Our Jobs
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Technological advancement and innovations have made work easier and more efficient. However, the continued developments in technology in the manufacture of machines could pose a looming threat to the employment of a significant percentage of the population. Although the increased investments in technology also provide jobs, the machines developed have at the same time caused unemployment. The developing nations have to take into cognizance the overall impact of technology on the development and improvement of their economies. With the current innovations, development and use of technology in almost all sectors of the economy creates a need to analyze the long-term effects of the technology, so as not to cause massive loss of jobs.
Various sectors such as service industries, manufacturing industries, transport and communication, agriculture and food production industries and the military have had an important and massive investment in technology. The efficiency of the machines or the installed technology in the various sectors of the economy has resulted in the loss of employment opportunities. The work or duties that could have been done by several individuals are currently being done by a small number of machines or just a computerized program that could be controlled by a single individual. Due to these concerns and the continued investments in technology (digitalization) and the increasing population, sustainability measures have to be incorporated so as to reduce unemployment associated with adoption of technology. The advancement in technology should help in the creation of alternative employment opportunities for the population.
According to US statistics, projections as a result of continued investment in robot technology is likely to result in the loss of approximately 6% of jobs in America by 2021. The service sector would be largely hit by the continued investment in robot technology. Replacing humans in service provision pose a threat to the social dynamics among the population, although entrepreneurs view this as cost effective. Banking, hotel, entertainment and recreational services have experienced massive technological investment. The Moley Robotic Company has invented a fully automated intelligent robotic chef. The robot chef can learn so many recipes for the diversified cultural foods and techniques. The robot has integrated abilities to perform duties that could have been performed by a number of employees. The robot can perform all the tasks that it has been programmed to perform, and produce uniformity in quantity and standard of service delivery.
Despite being costly to purchase the robots, the cost of maintenance and operations is low as compared to the humans who face financial, social, health and political challenges. In the long run, the robots are considered economical in operation and easy to manage as they require little supervision. However, the replacement of humans with the robots would create superficial relationships among the employees, employers and the customers. The lack of creativity, uniqueness in service delivery and the cooking process would only limit the robots to perform specific tasks to which it has been programmed to perform. The creation of superficial relationships would not be healthy in the long run for the business.
The hotel industry could also employ the services of the robot in room services and maintenance. However, the lack of programmable emotions for the robot to be able to relate to the customers effectively, would be a major disadvantage in the industry. The customers cannot have personal and confidential communication with the robot in contrary to the set instruction sets within the processors of the robot. It is not possible to have an effective dialogue between the robots and the customers, due to the diversity of people and the inability to program the robot to all the life aspects in individuals. However, to counter the loss of employment to employees replaced by the robots, employment would be created by the manufacturing industries in the manufacture and programming of the robots. Employment would also be created in the repair and maintenance and the monitoring of the functionality of the robot to remedy any fault that could have been caused by virus attacks to prevent the robot from going rogue. Bartending could also be taken over by the robots. Piloted projects such as Carl, a robot currently employed in a bar in Germany can mix a cocktail and start conversations with the customers. The robot can mix a wide variety of cocktails in a split of a second.
The manufacturing industry would also be affected by the increased advancement in technology and development of better and more efficient machines. The industries dealing with the manufacture of the technologically advanced machines and robots would provide employment opportunities to a wide range of employees, ranging from suppliers of materials, transportation of raw materials to the industries and the transportation of the final products to the wholesale and retail stores. Both skilled and semi-skilled labor would be needed in abundance in the production line for the machines and active programming of digital machines and equipment. However, with the continued production of intelligent machines, workers would be replaced by the machines in other manufacturing industries. The perfect examples of the industries that have laid off workers are Foxconn and Everwin Precision Technology. Foxconn is the major supplier of raw materials for both Apple and Samsung and has replaced about 60,000 of its employees with robots. The Everwin Precision Technology in China is also about to replace 90% of the employees with robots and automatons to cut the cost of production and improve efficiency so as to meet the demand for their products.
The health and medical sector have also experienced a lot of technological investment. The process of diagnosis, treatment, research and the control of diseases have undergone a complete revamp. The manufacture of technologically advanced equipment and machines has helped in early diagnosis and treatment of some of the fatal diseases such as cancer and Ebola, and has significantly helped in the control and reduction of their fatalities. The surgical department has also undergone a lot of improvement. However, the manufacture of robots to conduct surgery has replaced surgeons in the surgical theatres. For example, the robots from the Da Vinci Company have performed over two million surgical procedures. They robots have been able to perform delicate and sensitive surgeries which require ultra-precision. The robot-surgeons are widely utilized in eye surgery and knee replacement. With time, almost all operations will be conducted by the robot-surgeons. Robots can also be injected into the blood system o...