Business Insider
- Firms are having a more difficult time finding blue-collar workers than white-collar workers.
- The shortage is expected to continue to put upward pressure on wages for blue-collared workers.
- But economists say a tight labor market could incentivize companies to shift toward automation in attempt to reduce costs, lessening the demand for manual labor.
There's a 'blue-collar wave' taking place in America — but it may not last
Gina Heeb
But economists say a tight labor market could incentivize companies to shift toward automation in attempt to reduce costs, lessening the demand for manual labor.
ReplyDeleteWhich highlights the stupidity of focusing on wages instead of ethical finance since the latter would have precluded such things as workers being dis-employed with what is, in essence, their own legally stolen purchasing power and investment potential.
"a tight labor market could incentivize companies to shift toward automation in attempt to reduce costs, lessening the demand for manual labor."
ReplyDeleteDepends on the blue collar to white collar ratio in the firms that make the "automation equipment". For example those robots used on car assemly lines look very much like standard engineering products to me, in which case the blue / white ratio for the country as a whole won't change much.
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ReplyDeleteDo you think robots cannot assemble robots, Ralph?
ReplyDeleteI don't know the percentage of talented programmers and engineers but it is surely tiny compared to the unemployment they can create - including the elimination of most of their own well-paid jobs eventually as AI improves.