James J. Hughes Ph.D. Executive Director, Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies Public Policy Studies, Trinity College, Hartford CT
As women entered the labor force in pink and white collar jobs, men were leaving farm and manual labor Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2012
Increase in adult employment until 2000 But the paid labor force has declined since 2000 Jobless recovery since 2008 The percent of year olds in paid labor
Outsourcing of manufacturing and service sectors jobs Some jobs can’t be done from overseas (yet): e.g. education and healthcare Some benefit from globalization, esp where skills and infrastructure give us an advantage But we can’t all get those jobs, and that won’t last anyway
Computer power doubles every two years
All jobs are potentially automatable, done cheaper and better than human workers
Since the 1980s the fastest declining occupations had the highest rates of unionization, and the fastest growing occupations had low rates
Deskilling Jobs, Keeping the Profits Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2012
Most new jobs are non-unionized and don’t pay as well
Professional, collegial core Growing hierarchical management Resistance to measurement, “efficiency” and automation Learning outcomes and standardized tests and curricula Health outcomes and standardized testing, treatment and care plans Pushed by managers, but now management is also being downsized by computerization
Even diagnosing, prescribing and surgery can be automated Robot nurses aides Telepresence doctors Robot patients Robotic surgery
Expert diagnostic and treatment systems used by nurses and PAs do better than doctors for most conditions
Home and medical telemonitoring of heart, blood pressure, blood sugar, urinalysis, prescription compliance, etc.
Online and distance education models are growing, whether they work yet or not The cost bubble in higher education is about to burst 1500 CT licenses for Odysseyware online credit recovery University of Phoenix is largest in US Stanford, Harvard, MIT all experimenting
Jobs requiring human empathy and insight are probably going to be the last to automate But still.. Robot prostitutes AI Counseling Smartphone confession
So far, education has determined who is most vulnerable But not for much longer…
Power determines who bears the brunt of the pain from technological changes in the workplace Secretaries and Bosses K12 teachers vs. Profs Paralegals vs. Partners Nurses vs. Doctors But now everyone is under pressure from automation Taylorism vs. humane management Extending the productivity of workers in good, interesting jobs versus reducing jobs until they can replaced by robots Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2012
In egalitarian countries technological change has led to prosperity
Decline of worker-firm compact More part-time and contingent labor Increasingly rapid job changes Longer healthy, working lives
Glut of PhDs Curricular flexibility of adjunct faculty Fiscal logic in the cost bubble
But we’re also working longer
Continuous education and upskilling throughout life Severing the link of health insurance, pensions and even income from the job Economies need consumers even more than workers
More social movement, less collective bargaining Defending the social wage, not just wages, unemployment insurance and pensions National health insurance, not just a health plan (or Medicare) Wisconsin and Ohio: Labor as a national leader in the fight against austerity and for fairness
Occupy was a model in using media, but lacks the structure of the labor movement Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies 2012
The power of the image Bottom-up surveillance
Social media not a broadcast media, but a relationship media Social media to build a constant thread of connection to members, allies and the community Social media as an electronic immune system for labor rights Beyond top-down union communications to lateral, organic communications “I’m getting arrested” app
Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies ieet.org These slides: Me: