
Why aren't more Americans working?  40.2% of 16 and older don't have jobs - archiebunker
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-04/why-aren-t-more-americans-working
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orionblastar
It is real simple, automation has eaten some jobs. When someone write a web
site, an app, an AI program, it automates work that people used to do by hand.

I used to write business apps for a law firm, when I wrote a VB program with
Crystal Reports to do a series of reports, the people who used to do the
reports by hand got fired and lost their jobs. I felt bad about that as well.
Some of them did reports in MS-Office using Excel or Word or did it on paper
before that.

I changed paper forms into electric forms stored in a database. The people who
used to handle and process those forms got fired as well.

Robots now are ready to replace cheap labor, they can cook food or do other
things as well.

We really need a Basic Income for people who lost their jobs due to
automation, and almost everything we invent in software puts people out of
work. If they don't learn new skills for new jobs, they could become
unemployed.

Edit: Sources:
[https://public.tableau.com/profile/mckinsey.analytics#!/vizh...](https://public.tableau.com/profile/mckinsey.analytics#!/vizhome/AutomationandUSjobs/Technicalpotentialforautomation)

[http://singularityhub.com/2015/11/19/automation-is-eating-
jo...](http://singularityhub.com/2015/11/19/automation-is-eating-jobs-but-
these-skills-will-always-be-valued-in-the-workplace/)

[http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-09/automation-
doesnt-j...](http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-09/automation-doesnt-just-
destroy-jobs-it-destroys-profits-too)

[http://www.industryweek.com/automation/future-automation-
and...](http://www.industryweek.com/automation/future-automation-and-your-job)

~~~
adventurer
Well, automation is what was said in the article. You think it accounts for
most of the 40%? That's pretty hard to believe.

~~~
orionblastar
I didn't say it accounts for most of the 40% but it is a factor in killing
jobs. I wanted to give an example of stuff I wrote that replaced people.

The typists used to have a room of 100 people typing on typewriters to copy
letters and memos. Once the laser printer and word processor was developed you
only needed 1 person to type up a letter or memo and press 100 copies. So the
other 99 got fired, and the person with a new skill set got the job. I want to
use that example to show how automation can cost jobs. But people just learned
how to use a computer and word processors and spreadsheets and got new jobs
with new skills. The typists just learned how to use a computer keyboard and
then switched to a new job, those who didn't learn new skills couldn't find
work and became unemployed or had to get a different job.

My father for example worked at AT&T on 1ESS Bell Labs switches and phone
equipment. When AT&T was broken up they replaced the 1ESS Switches with IBM
System/36 computers and my father was put into early retirement. He even knew
Unix but it was the PC era. So it is also a matter of outdated skills that can
lead to a job loss as technology changes and new skills are not learned to
adapt.

I'm sure there are other factors to that 40%, I just wanted to talk about
automation because that is what most of us do, and don't think about the
people that lose their jobs as a result. Not all of the 40% but some of them.

I've known people who worked in Novell Netware, IBM OS/2, Wang, DEC VMS/VAX,
and others who lose their jobs when the company switched to PCs with Microsoft
Windows and NT Servers with SNA Server, SQL Server, Exchange Server, etc. So
having outdated skills can lead to job loss when a new technology becomes
popular and replaces old technology. I also worked with companies who migrated
from these old platforms to Windows NT Server and did the data conversions and
file structures for network shares.

