In case you missed last night’s 60 Minutes. Take the 13 minutes to view this fascinating piece about how technological advances, especially robotics, are changing the workplace and is causing unemployment.
We’ve wrtitten and posted many times on how technology is contributing to structural unemployment,
…as many as 10% of U.S. service sector workers — roughly 12 million people — could be laid off in the next five years as a result of mobile efficiencies.
– Michael Saylor, The Mobile Wave
Also see here, here, and here.
“Tech companies are creating plenty of jobs for robots.” – Daniel Honan, The Robot Hiring Boom Has Arrived
After viewing the piece think about a monetary policy tied to an unemployment rate that may be impacted more by structural forces and less by cyclical demand factors than policymakers currently estimate.
..in the not too long term…we are going to transition into an economy that is very productive but just doesn’t need a lot of human workers.
– Andrew McAfee, MIT
Could it be that financial repression, which lowers the cost of capital, may be resulting in an unintended consequence of quickening the replacement of human labor by robots? Just sayin’.
Click here to view the full 60 minutes piece.
(click here if picture is not observable)
Global Macro Monitor 