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They created jobs too, a lot of which people assume are done by robots because they're done in other countries. Apple may only employ 100,000 people in the US
by crdoconnor 10y ago
They created jobs too, a lot of which people assume are done by robots because they're done in other countries.
Apple may only employ 100,000 people in the US but 1.3 million not-robots work for the company that actually makes those phones.
The argument that it automation is "naturally" creating fewer jobs that it eliminates is refuted simply by looking overseas where all those new jobs actually are.
Or are they just temporary?
Foxconn threatened in 2011 that within three years their 1.2 million strong workforce would be largely replaced by robots:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/foxconn-to-replace-human-workers-with-one-million-robots http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robot...
Here we are 5 years later with them employing another 100,000 warm bodies while making identical threats.
- potatolicious 10y agoI don't think the argument is that automation creates no jobs, the argument is that (at least in the current instance of automation) it creates dramatically fewer jobs than it eliminates, and the balance is not being made up for over time or in other industries, resulting in a substantial net decrease in employment or wages. Apple's 1.3 million-strong workforce is itself being automated out of existence... http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36376966 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36376966
- wvenable 10y agoI'm not even talking about robots; I'm just talking about computers. The majority of people developing software aren't creating new jobs, they're deliberately and explicitly reducing the need for human labor.