A recent Mekinesy study estimated that automation in US threatened 73 % jobs in f ood service and accommodation; 60 % in finance and insurance, 53 % in retailing and 59 % in manufacturing.
Nike has come out with Flyknit shoe robotically knitted from fibres and other materials threatening a huge loss of jobs in footwear industry.
In Japan there are over 1,500 robots for every 10,000 workers in automobile manufacturing.
In our India w here the Traditional major job and livelyhood creating sectors like agriculture and hand-loom have been totally neglected and thrown in to unending crises, where poverty, illiteracy, ill-health, ignorance and huge unemployment is perpetrated through imperialist neo-liberal economic policies, our rulers have been gloating over the bubble of‘ economic development’ achieved through export of I. T and software services. They have been boasting about the employment opportunities created by I. T & software sector bragging about their so called success in the develop ment of economy and creation of jobs. That now with the impending attack of A. I technology this bubble of affluence is going be broken and vanish in to thin air is certainty.
Already the big companies like Infosys, TCS, Wipro which have been exporting I. T and software related services and earning around 11,000 crores of dollars of business, providing 42.50 lakhs of jobs, by gaining a share of 60 % in the world are losing their sheen as their business has stagnated for the past two years.
Out-sourcing business, have started a speedy stagnation in their development indicating the impending doom of this industry due to the gallops of automation technology. This automation of I. T industry is estimated to cause job
December- 2016 cuts to a tune of 10 % viz around 2, 25,000 jobs of middle managers in the coming 10 year period. Already the campus hiring of I. T graduates started decreasing. Increased automation has caused a dip in the campus recruitments and flat salary growth at mid-level engineering colleges such as SRM University, Chennai, VIT Vellore and Chennai and National institute of technology at Warangal and else-where. This year there is a dip of 20-25 % is offers of jobs. Uncertainly in global economy has an added effect in the dwindling campus hiring.
W hile such have been the facts about the effects of Automation and its disruptive nature, the experts( economic) that support the capitalist system like Martin Feldstein( professor of economics at Harward university), Pritam Banerjee( senior director, corporate public policy, Deutsche post DHL), Bamchandar Nagarajan,( a Harvard graduate and a political and public policy advisor), while admitting the impending job cuts in hug e numb ers, p articularly in developing and poor countries they are preaching that one shall not scare about this‘ disruptive technology’. They assure that those who lose their jobs to the new technology will soon find other emp loyment. They op ine that changes in technology will increase the economies out-put and raise the potential standard of living of the population. They sanely remind us though robots and automated machined have replaced production workers in manufacturing for many years, that those who are no longer employed in manufacturing have found jobs else-where in the economy. They also assure us though computers have replaced workers in a wide range of service industries like elevator operators, switch-board operators, checking-in personal at air-ports, law firms, accounting firms etc, the overall unemployment rate will be held down because college graduates comprise a larger share of younger age cohorts. They pointout that the rising output per worker( due to automation) made possible by the increased use of robots and comp uters also w ill allow employees work fewer hours and enjoy more leisure just as is in practice in Germany where a workers on average works 1,371 has per year and 1,790 hours a year in U. S. They preach us a reduction in working hours per employee translates in to qualityof-life improvements like longer vacations and longer week-ends. Fewer working hours will also provide more opportunities for travel, eating out, and other activities that create jobs for service workers.
Thus experts as well giant I. T. companies preach that there is no alternative to the technological onslaughts of capitalists on hum anity and call the toiling people, particularly the workers to submit to it.
W ith such assurances they preach that workers and employees shall adjust positively to the changing technology. The Indian experts impress that since Robotics and AI are not going away, we shall tackle technology and associated issues with a positive mind set and not to succumb to parnia. They prescribe that deep rooted reforms in education shall be initiated where the focus is on the methods and processes that equip the next generation with wide array of skills to enable them nimble. They point out that the tractor after all did not end up in killing the jobs of farmers.
On the other hand 5 worldclass technical giantsAmazon, Face book, Google, IBM and Microsoft have audaciously came forward and jointly created an organisation to set the ground rules for protecting humans and their jobs-
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