"They'll take our jobs". The future of labour in the light of automation due to artificial intelligence and robotics

Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject Economics - Innovation economics, grade: 1,3, University of Applied Sciences Essen, course: Economics, language: English, abstract: German newsletter articles in 2018 fanned fear in many employees with headlines like ¿Siri, machst du uns bald alle arbeitslos?¿ (Kramer, 2018) or ¿Wird jeder Zehnte arbeitslos?¿ (Rudzio, 2018). The worry over joblessness due to industrialisation is not a new occurrence. Although vast technical and industrial development should be pursued recklessly in order to make bigger profits that should increase wealth for all, there have been movements against this development throughout history. Reasons for these dissenting voices can be for example: social, ecological or even economic to maintain the status quo. The destruction of mechanical looms from 1811 by Ned Ludd and his followers show, how people have been aware of the effects of technology on employment.

Even though there are a plenty of reasons to work against an industrial revolution, e.g. pollution or change of the environment, a lot of them are rooted in a fear of unemployment. It has been shown, that unemployment leads to an increase of criminality, decreases mental and physical health and has a negative impact on individual happiness. If the assumption that about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk, is correct, employments and therefore society is facing a massive disruption.

This assignment is focused on social and macroeconomic outcomes from the latest technological trend, and highly discussed topic in media: Artificial Intelligence based Automation. Following the introduction it is primarily discussed, which kinds of jobs are potentially threatened by automation. Second, this assignment illustrate the economic problems arising with automation. The third part is a brief summarisation of approaches on how to cope with the problems caused by automation in the near future.