Imagining a future where new skills are no help
In the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the Bank of England's top economist is warning about the impact of automation on employment.
Andrew Haldane, the bank's chief economist, said that jobs at risk from automation total about 80 million in the U.S. and about 15 million in the U.K.
The elimination of jobs due to robotics and artificial intelligence with reasoning capabilities is a topic of increasing interest. But there is also a lot of uncertainty attached to this, which Haldane, in a recent speech, acknowledges.
Automation, historically, improves productivity and income, and the lesson of history, said Haldane, is that rising incomes "have ridden to the rescue, boosting the demand for new goods from new industries requiring new workers." During previous phases of growth, workers have moved up the income escalator by "skilling up," thereby keeping one step ahead of the machine.
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