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automation

Monday 2nd of March 2026

2016 Presidential election The real job killer in America is auto- mation, robotics, artificial intelligence. You're not going to lose because your neighbor's child gets a chance to go to college. You're not going to lose because a hard-working immigrant family starts a small business. That's good for you! We never made that case. And the message from Trump was a retrograde message of nostalgia: “We can go back to the way things were. You don't have to compete with a woman for a job. Or with a striving young immigrant.” It's a falsehood that gave some comfort to people and gave them permission to scapegoat others. Hillary Clinton © 2017 Kwiple.com
Automation The McKinsey Global Institute reckons that by 2030 up to 375m people, or 14% of the global workforce, could have their jobs automated away.  Bosses will need to decide whether they are prepared to offer and pay for retraining, and whether they will give time off for it. Many companies say they are all for workers developing new skills, but not at the employer's expense. The Economist, March 31, 2018 © 2018 Kwiple.com
Automation The only human beings left in the modern supply chain are truck drivers. If you go to a modern warehouse now, say Amazon or Walmart, the trucks are unloaded by machines, the trucks are loaded by machines, they are put into the warehouse by machines. Then there is a guy, probably making $10 an hour, with a load of screens watching these machines. Then what you have is a truckers' lounge with 20 or 30 guys standing around getting paid. And that drives the supply chain people nuts. Finn Murphy, The Guardian, October 10, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
Automation Sales of automation software are expected to rise by 28 percent this year, after increasing 12 percent last year, according to the research firm Gartner. And the consulting firm McKinsey, which predicted before the pandemic that 37 million U.S. workers would be displaced by automation by 2030, recently increased its projection to 45 million. Kevin Roose, New York Times, March 6, 2021 © 2021 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Amount that Carrier promised to invest in an Indiana plant in a deal with Donald Trump to save domestic jobs: $16,000,000 Percentage of that money that will be used for automation: 100 Harper's Index, September 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Globally, the McKinsey researchers calculated that 49 percent of time spent on work activities could be automated with “currently demonnstrated technology” either already in the marketplace or being developed in labs. That, the report says, translates into $15.8 trillion in wages and the equivalent of 1.1 billion workers worldwide. But only 5 percent of jobs can be entirely automated. New York Times, January 12, 2017 © 2017 Kwiple.com
By the numbers Portion of Americans who think that most of the work currently done by humans will be automated in fifty years: 2/3 Who think their job will still exist in its current form: 4/5 Harper's Index, June 2016 © 2016 Kwiple.com
Healthcare – One recent study shows that, between 1970 and 2016, the earnings that laborers received fell twenty-one per cent. But their total compensation, taken to in- clude the cost of their benefits (in particu- lar, health care), rose sixty-eight per cent. Increases in health-care costs have devoured take-home pay for those below median income. At the same time, the system practically begs employers to reduce the number of less skilled workers they hire, by outsoourcing or automating their positions. Atul Gawande, New Yorker, March 16, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Kwiple dictionary reshoring (ri shôr'ing), n. Replacing low-paid workers overseas with cheaper robots here. © 2017 Kwiple.com
Manufacturing The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment. Warren Bennis © 2016 Kwiple.com
Punt returners say How are you going to get them to buy Fords? Walter Reuther, leader of the United Automobile Workers, responding to a Ford Motor Company official who, pointing to robots in a newly opened fully automated engine plant, said, “How are you going to collect   union dues from these guys?” [many variations exist] © 2017 Kwiple.com
Robots US goods imports contracted 11 per cent in the first eight months of the year compared with the same period last year, but imports of industrial robots rose 5 per cent, according to data from the US International Trade Commission. … Digital interaction with customers has accelerated the equivalent of many years in just months, according to a recent survey of business executives by the consultancy McKinsey.  Changes in digital and technology adoption  are taking place about 25 times faster than before the pandemic, the survey found. Financial Times, October 20, 2020 © 2020 Kwiple.com
Robots Well, we're just going to replace them all with robots. Jeff Holden, Uber's chief product officer, responding to concerns expressed about discontent among Uber's drivers © 2017 Kwiple.com
 
Sleepers at the wheel say Automation doesn't threaten mass unemployment or greater inequality © 2016 Kwiple.com