Victim of Fourth Industrial Revolution: Blue-Collar Workers and the Poor

From manufacture to the oilfield, automation is gradually taken over the manual labor. Sooner or later artificial intelligence and robots will be capable of doing the same work as financial advisors, taxi drivers, bartenders and speechwriters. Bryan Wright writes on Lost Angeles Times that “the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution has found its first victims: blue-collar workers and the poor.” Most occupations that pay less than $20 an hour are likely to be “automated into obsolescence.” Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. forecast that 45% of today’s workplace activities could be done by robots and AI. According to a report from the 2016 World Economic Forum, by 2020 7.1 million jobs around the world will be destroyed by these technological changes. The simple reason is that robots don’t need paychecks, health insurance, pensions, and vacations. Meanwhile, most workers are in denial as they think their job will still be there in 50 years and only 11% worried about job loss to automation. (latimes.com)