Writing Project 3: Argumentative Paper
Technological Application in the Workforce might want to change title too lol
by
Alina Khan
English 160
Jeff Kessler
November 20, 2018
There is the popular notion that ties technology with a malicious thievery of employment across an international scale. The production of machines replacing tedious tasks is dismissed as a crisis that is worth rioting, that mass production has stripped intrapersonal applications and substance to their products, and that the unskilled labor force will soon be condemned to poverty without any hope. While technology taking over useless jobs is seen as a serious problem, it might be time to look at how its benefits such as, (List specific benefits and show in paper) society and the workforce in the future. The influence of an international and world-scaled economy is too profound to neglect and as time passes this problem will only increase in urgency. To even imagine a life without technology at this point in time would be more than difficult. Methods practiced and followed through human eras are becoming obsolete instantly after an industrial revolution that touched the world.
One particular place this impacted most was industrial Youngstown, Ohio. According to The Atlantic’s article “A World Without Work” by senior editor Derek Thompson, tragedy struck when the source of economic prosperity was terminated with up to 50,000 jobs and $1.3 billion in wages lost all in five years (Thompson). This event was greeted with a depression that affected every citizen. While these ramifications were drastic, they might only be the immediate and temporary effects of unemployment in regards to technology replacement. Jobs that will primarily be automated are those that consist of monotonous, and repetitive tasks which are typically undesirable, but Graeber argues in his article that, “productive jobs have [also] largely automated away,” (Graeber 99). Now undergoing a transition period, the American workforce must commit to a revolution. This will be possible through an adaptation of job qualification, the resistance and increase of jobs that cannot be automated, and the growth in the production of goods. Although low-wage, unskilled, labor will be sacrificed on a short-term scale, economic prosperity will stabilize as a shift in work will occur to compensate suggested by through history and current trends.
Furthermore, it is important to understand how technology has influenced the economy in previous years. Apprehensions and declarations of machines replacing human labor have been made before, but many have argued against it. The greatest example to refer to is the Industrial Revolution and its impact on agriculture before assembly lines and factories began to take over. According to, The Economist’s report “Automation and Anxiety,” textile workers, named Luddites, protested that machines and steam engines would disrupt and damage their opportunities. Their pamphlets read, “Never until now did human invention devise such expedients for dispensing with the labor of the poor,” (Automation and Anxiety). This same source includes how similar outbreaks occurred in the 1920’s and 30’s where the term “technological unemployment” was first used (Automation and Anxiety). When discontent arose again in the 40’s, the New York Times considered the uproar of these concerns as “old arguments (Automation and Anxiety). Yet, against all expectation, technology has always created more jobs than it has taken in the end. History also suggests that automating tasks increases the demand for human workers because they would fulfill jobs around it, the ones untouched by automation. The reasoning to this is that tasks can be done quickly or more cheaply. There are many historical examples of this in practice such as when jobs in the weaving process were being replaced by machines during the Industrial Revolution. This prompted workers to concentrate on things that machines do not have the ability to do: operate one and tend to them to make sure they continue running smoothly. According to James Bessen, an economist at the Boston University School of Law, “this caused output to grow extensively,” (Automation and Anxiety). More specifically, Bessen states
..the amount of coarse cloth a single weaver could produce in an hour increased by a factor of 50, and the amount of labor required per yard of cloth fell by 98%. This made cloth cheaper and increased demand for it, which in turn created more jobs for weavers: their numbers quadrupled between 1830 and 1900 (Automation and Anxiety).
To put it simply, technology may have changed the essence of the weaver’s job and the required skills but did not replace it altogether. A similar characteristic was discovered by another set of jobs that became affected from industrialization. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, forty-one percent of jobs belonged in agriculture (Dimitri). A century later, it has reduced to only two percent (Dimitri). The revolution did not cause mass unemployment, instead, the employees fit to what the economic situation called for. As one door closed, another opened, creating a balance of demand.
Interestingly, jobs that can adjust to the addition and accommodation of technology have shown greater success as well. According to the Atlantic’s article, “The Automation Paradox,” “It turns out that workers will have greater employment opportunities if their occupation undergoes some degree of computer automation,” (Bessen). The complexity of this is very important and is one reason that impacts success in a world growing more attached to technology. Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics, David Graeber argues further in his journal “On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs,” he claims that “Technological change is not necessarily employment-increasing or Pareto-improving,” but how that change compliments a job is the dependent factor (Autor). (instead of using autor quote i want to use graeber but do not know how to) https://strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/ <<< this is the source
Autor contextualizes this by stating, “A construction worker who is expert with a shovel but cannot drive an excavator will generally experience falling wages as automation advances,” and, “a bank teller who can tally currency but cannot provide “relationship banking” is unlikely to fare well at a modern bank,” (Autor). Jobs that cannot achieve these adjustments are at risk. Fortunately, this only adds up to about 5% of all jobs according to a recent study done by McKinsey & Company, a worldwide management consulting firm (Michael). This directly contradicts the very popularly referenced unpublished study that 47% of jobs will disappear in the next decade presented in scholarly article “The Future of Employment: How Susceptible Are Jobs to Computerisation?” (Frey). The unemployment that may occur is not to scale with common beliefs and the sacrifice that technology will impose is not related to employment loss, but with the specific skills each job carries. Historical examples create templates for future predictions and are able to depict that the economy will naturally stabilize as most qualifications adjust to complement the addition of machinery in the work environment. Those which do not modify will, as authors Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson state, “lose the race against the machine,” (Brynjolfsson).
Production and automation have an intertwined relationship as well. There has been a positive causation with the application of machinery and the gain that follows. The former president, Richard Nixon, reckoned this in his Labor Day Speech in 1971 by defining productivity as, “..getting more out of your work,” and explains, “When you have the latest technology to help you do your job, it means you can do more with the same effort. That’s why we say investment in modern equipment will increase productivity,” (Peters). This will lead to economic prosperity and make life more affordable for American citizens. This can already be seen in modern examples of telecommunication investment. According to author and director of Governance Studies, Darrell West, concludes that "…each 10 percentage point increase in broadband penetration adds 1.3 percent to a high-income country’s gross domestic product and 1.21 percent for low to middle-income nations,” after conducted research between 1980 and 2006 (West). As the GDP (Gross Domestic Income) increases, the economy is stimulated and ranks against competing countries.
In review, financial security will be maintained overall although some instability will arise as technology continues to enforce reform in the workplace. This is evident through references of past and present patterns monitoring changes in the qualities, quantities, and production of jobs. These portray that machinery will not substitute human workers, rather change the specific roles to accommodate and manage machines, that many occupations have reported resistant and have increased since the introduction of technology, and an escalated production will increase capital, preserving a balance of employment. In spite of situations such as in Youngstown, Ohio, it is crucial to retain optimism and a stronger awareness to win this “race against the robots” and survive this transitioning period. Change is never painless, but as George Bernard Shaw quotes, “progress is impossible without change…”