What will happen when all the low skill jobs are gone?

eeguy · 22-02-2016 07:57PM #1

So Enda Kenny came under fire for calling the people of Castlebar whiners when they said there was no recovery in the west of Ireland.
Castlebar has had a series of factory closures since 2008 and the service industry has suffered too as a result.
Up and down Ireland (and the UK), factories in small towns are closing and will never be replaced. Any factories that have opened in recent years are in or around cities and are heavily automated, having only a small core staff to maintain production.
In the next 2 decades automation is going to really take off replacing traditional low skill jobs in manufacturing, transport and retail.

So what happens when thousands are made redundant through automation?
What happens when anyone who drives or does any repetitive task is made unemployable as it's cheaper and more efficient to automate the process?
Is it the end of civilisation as we know it?

Iwasfrozen · 22-02-2016 07:59PM

eeguy wrote: »

So Enda Kenny came under fire for calling the people of Castlebar whiners when they said there was no recovery in the west of Ireland.
Castlebar has had a series of factory closures since 2008 and the service industry has suffered too as a result.
Up and down Ireland (and the UK), factories in small towns are closing and will never be replaced. Any factories that have opened in recent years are in or around cities and are heavily automated, having only a small core staff to maintain production.
In the next 2 decades automation is going to really take off replacing traditional low skill jobs in manufacturing, transport and retail.

So what happens when thousands are made redundant through automation?
What happens when anyone who drives or does any repetitive task is made unemployable as it's cheaper and more efficient to automate the process?
Is it the end of civilisation as we know it?

Nope. People will adapt as they've always done. Those who can't or won't adapt will suffer.

The Backwards Man · 22-02-2016 08:00PM

Nope.

For as long as people have money, there will always be ways to get the money off them. You know what would fcuk humanity though? If the robots started holding the purse strings.

...And Justice · 22-02-2016 08:00PM

We'll have to kill the poor

tomwaterford · 22-02-2016 08:02PM

Robot/automatic driving will never take off to a large extent...as too many risk and differevt factors to account for

Falthyron · 22-02-2016 08:03PM

There will always be jobs that require some degree of human problem solving, creativity or initiative that can not be emulated by automation and would appear trivial or 'low skill' by others.

BoJack Horseman · 22-02-2016 08:04PM

...And Justice wrote: »

We'll have to kill the poor

Quiet & eat your soylent green.

Gatling · 22-02-2016 08:04PM

The hunger games ,

We'll have to kill our fellow interviewees for jobs

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo · 22-02-2016 08:04PM

A guaranteed income for everyone paid by the state is inevitable at some point in the future. As food and goods become easier to produce.

There will always be some low paid jobs available in the services industry too.

Easca Peasca · 22-02-2016 08:05PM

Everyone will be working in IT.

RobbingBandit · 22-02-2016 08:05PM

They took our jobs!!!

eeguy · 22-02-2016 08:10PM

Falthyron wrote: »

There will always be jobs that require some degree of human problem solving, creativity or initiative that can not be emulated by automation and would appear trivial or 'low skill' by others.

But will there be enough jobs to keep a population gainfully employed. We currently have a situation were hundreds of low skill workers are replaced by few high skill workers.

A biscuit factory recently opened in Drogheda and the CEO stated that their automation technology can undercut UK competition as while their start up cost was high their wage bill is minimal.
So we potentially have a case where hundreds of UK line workers will be made redundant and their skillset is obsolete.

ED E · 22-02-2016 08:15PM

Same thing as happened when we got tractors and factories and stopped doing every little thing with a horse or by hand. The bottom rung falls off the ladder, everyone moves up a rung.

Dravokivich · 22-02-2016 08:21PM

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

A guaranteed income for everyone paid by the state is inevitable at some point in the future. As food and goods become easier to produce.

There will always be some low paid jobs available in the services industry too.

I think there's too much dependence on the services industry. A lot of it I feel is supported by luxuries and at some point people aren't going to be able to afford that anymore. For example car insurance companies are really starting to out price their customers now based on a car being 15 years old.

Stigura · 22-02-2016 08:22PM

I remember watching " Tomorrows World " almost half a century ago. They were saying how automation was going to take over all the menial, manual work of production.

And so ye common man would have far more leisure time, due to not having to work all the weeks of his life.

This is why the government would be developing huge and wonderful leisure parks, around the south coast. Where all these relaxed and contented, unemployed prol's could concentrate, in their free time.

Entire counties turned into vast holiday camps

I think there were elements of truth in that vision :rolleyes:

the_syco · 22-02-2016 08:23PM

Tangatagamadda Chaddabinga Bonga Bungo wrote: »

A guaranteed income for everyone paid by the state is inevitable at some point in the future. As food and goods become easier to produce.

The dole?

recylingbin · 22-02-2016 08:24PM

More PR and morkeshing Autobots.

the_syco · 22-02-2016 08:24PM

Stigura wrote: »

Entire counties turned into vast holiday camps

With German made showers?

SEPT 23 1989 · 22-02-2016 08:26PM

Look at the unemployment rate for under 25's across Europe

Not enough jobs for our population and there never will he again

eeguy · 22-02-2016 08:29PM

ED E wrote: »

Same thing as happened when we got tractors and factories and stopped doing every little thing with a horse or by hand. The bottom rung falls off the ladder, everyone moves up a rung.

That's a common enough argument that's held true in the past. The horsey jobs lost due to automobiles were replaced by car factories and the oil and fast food industry created.

But this revolution is different. The people who built cars were looking to replace horses, the people who build robots are looking to replace people. So when your job is replaced by a robot, built by another robot and designed and programmed by people with qualifications world's away from yours, where do you go for a job?

JRant · 22-02-2016 08:31PM

Sure we've been hearing the same thing since the industrial revolution. The great thing about humans is that we always find a way to create new opportunities.

Now if those whingers in the west hadn't of scuppered the 400kV corridor then a lot more industry would have been attracted to the area. The west has some of the best wind and wave conditions on the planet that could be utilised but will be seriously hampered by the lack of a strong grid.

Kat1170 · 22-02-2016 08:33PM

ED E wrote: »

Same thing as happened when we got tractors and factories and stopped doing every little thing with a horse or by hand. The bottom rung falls off the ladder, everyone moves up a rung.

BUT, those on the bottom rung that appeared to move up, really didn't. they are still on the bottom rung. Only it is costing even more to basically stay where they were all along.

Lellostag · 22-02-2016 08:38PM

the_syco wrote: »

With German made showers?

Good one!!

csallmighty · 22-02-2016 08:39PM

Sure who's gonna make the machines?

gctest50 · 22-02-2016 08:39PM

tomwaterford wrote: »

Robot/automatic driving will never take off to a large extent...as too many risk and differevt factors to account for

robot refuelling :

fiachr_a · 22-02-2016 08:40PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Look at the unemployment rate for under 25's across Europe

Not enough jobs for our population and there never will he again

Especially when some of these under 25s did useless 3rd-level courses making them unemployable.

Junkyard Tom · 22-02-2016 08:41PM

It depends to what ends the automation is being used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvs7f4UaKLo

Skatedude · 22-02-2016 08:41PM

eeguy wrote: »

So Enda Kenny came under fire for calling the people of Castlebar whiners when they said there was no recovery in the west of Ireland.
Castlebar has had a series of factory closures since 2008 and the service industry has suffered too as a result.
Up and down Ireland (and the UK), factories in small towns are closing and will never be replaced. Any factories that have opened in recent years are in or around cities and are heavily automated, having only a small core staff to maintain production.
In the next 2 decades automation is going to really take off replacing traditional low skill jobs in manufacturing, transport and retail.

So what happens when thousands are made redundant through automation?
What happens when anyone who drives or does any repetitive task is made unemployable as it's cheaper and more efficient to automate the process?
Is it the end of civilisation as we know it?

People said exactly the same thing with the invention of the steam engine.

JRant · 22-02-2016 08:44PM

csallmighty wrote: »

Sure who's gonna make the machines?

The fear seems to be that machines will start building other machines.

I think this problem stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of how technology works. For all the clever things they seem to be able to do, machines are just simpletons carrying out instructions.

RayCon · 22-02-2016 08:45PM

I saw a documentary about this very topic a few years back .... think it was called Terminator.

eeguy · 22-02-2016 08:56PM

JRant wrote: »

The fear seems to be that machines will start building other machines.

I think this problem stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of how technology works. For all the clever things they seem to be able to do, machines are just simpletons carrying out instructions.

That's true, but machines are becoming more capable at replicating repetitious actions that previously only people could do.

Also, it doesn't take many people to program an entire factory and once that factory is going, it doesn't take many people to maintain it.

And all the people in the production chain have specialised qualifications that take years to attain.

What will happen when all the low skill jobs are gone?

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