2013-04-16     More computers, fewer jobs

When I was in Australia in January, I saw that post offices in Australia
have computerised machines for customers wishing to post a parcel.
And many of Australia's grocery shops now have machines to process customers' purchases. At the post office and at the grocery store, just like at Australia's airports, there's no longer any need for "human" service to process parcels, groceries and luggage.

The downside of all this is fewer jobs, and this is a growing concern.
Even in China machines are now replacing "cheap labor" - because that  labour is increasingly not so cheap. In 2011 Foxconn  unveiled plans to install one million robots over three years at its China factories which assemble iPhones

If machines put tens of millions of workers in China out of a job, the ramifications for China's harmonious society are mind-boggling. And the same is true for other countries:  where can jobs be found for people replaced by computers?

If you put "more machines fewer jobs" into Google, you will see many articles discussing this topic. One article has the pessimistic words: "The  developed world faces high middle-class unemployment, social discord, divisive politics, and falling living standards". Maybe Gandhi was right when he said that greed and profit-making were driving the world to replace workers with machines.