An interesting front-page story in the WSJ - What Clever Robots Mean for Jobs (Feb
25, 2014):
A highlight from the article:
“When I was in grad
school, you knew if you worried about technology, you were viewed as a
dummy—because it always helps people,” MIT economist David Autor said. But rather
than killing jobs indiscriminately, Mr. Autor’s research found automation
commandeering such middle-class work as clerk and bookkeeper, while creating
jobs at the high- and low-end of the market.
This is one reason the
labor market has polarized and wages have stagnated over the past 15 years, Mr.
Autor said. The concern among economists shouldn’t be machines soon replacing
humans, he said: “The real problem I see with automation is that it’s
contributed to growing inequality.”