Monday, October 24, 2011

Discussion on automation

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=170917&st=45&gopid=3158341&

A good discussion on machines taking jobs on housepricecrashforum.

What will happen long before a majority of jobs are automated is demand will collapse.  The army of unemployed will underbid jobs down to the national minimum wage.. like in the USA there is 'click monkeys'.. lawyers who are making barely over the minimum wage, so at least they can be using their law degree.

The unemployed themselves will buy very little, so demand falls.  And as Miko pointed out, those remaining in good jobs will save as much as possible, incase they are made unemployed.  Realizing a best case scenario is several years in a college to retrain into a new skill.  Which is going to require a lot of money.

Faced with falling sales, corporations will downsize, and faced with falling tax revenues, governments will downsize. 

In the USA the people employed was 150 million going into 2008.. but now is 138 million.  (Even as the population expanded by 9 million over the 3 years).  Those 12 million are still waiting for the market to bounce back and create new jobs.

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