Story
Year 2030:
Sam is working as a cigar roller in Florida, A job that she has had for the past few years and is good at, though these skills are not easily directly transferable to another job. In the past, Torcedors (cigar rollers), were predominantly female, and this has stayed true to this day, as most of Sam’s coworkers are also female. Up until recently, hand rolled cigars were revered for the high level of quality they exhibited, however, as automation becomes increasingly adept at achieving the same results, the value of hand rolling lessens to the point where many Torcedors working with Sam begin being laid off, and their work has been automated.
Sam notices that, even considering the smaller number to begin with, her male coworkers have been replaced far less frequently than her female coworkers, on top of the fact that most of the non cigar-rolling jobs at her workplace already are male occupied. After a year, she ends up being laid off as well, alongside a number of coworkers. Many of Torcedors, Sam included, are part of a group chat that they continue to use even though they are no longer coworkers, and a number of them express frustration after losing their job.
“How is this even legal? It’s ridiculous…”
“Not only legal but it might as well be encouraged. Have you even seen how much automation is incentivized?”
“Well that’s what happens when legislation is decades behind. God forbid the government is proactive with protecting our livelihood”
“I guess we all just need to get robot handling jobs instead, since we ‘unskilled laborers’ are all capable of doing so”
“Well that worked just fine for Jim and Victor”
“Yeah I wonder why, lol”
Sam’s feelings mirror that of her coworkers, and she often finds she needs to ignore the chat to avoid getting angry when the topic is brought up. Knowing that the difficulty she, as well as others, are going through at the moment is avoidable only makes it more annoying, and she finds herself wishing that she were able to help prevent this from happening to others. Though she knows it will be difficult, she decides that she would like to campaign for more worker friendly policies in the face of automation.
What are Industrial Robots?
Industrial Robots are, in general, any type of robot that is used in manufacturing. Their form is typically suited to exactly the kind of motions and workload they are expected to handle in regular operation. These robots are typically employed to do tasks that have a high degree of repeatability or ‘routineness’[1], such as picking and placing objects, or aiding in the assembly of parts. Industrial robots have the potential to increase efficiency and quality, while–on the downside–‘taking’ jobs that would otherwise go to people. While industrial robots do displace work, they also create work in other forms such as designing, operating, or maintaining these robots. This can help lessen the negative impact of job displacement.
Discussion Questions
Click the + on the right of a question to view related perspectives and potential starting points for considering these ethical concerns.
Will automation on its own be able to counterbalance the amount of jobs that it displaces with an equal, or greater number of new jobs?[5, 6]
- “In the 19th century, as automation of some tasks was ongoing, other technological developments generated employment opportunities in new occupations. These included jobs for line workers, engineers, machinists, repairmen, conductors, managers, and financiers”[6]
If automation will not result in more jobs, will there be a feasible way to implement policy, or some other incentives to ensure that there is not a net loss in jobs?
- “These interventions might include removing incentives for excessive automation (such as the preferential treatment of capital equipment) and implementing new policies designed to rebalance the direction of technological change”[6]
For workers displaced by automation who are also able to get one of the new jobs that is supported or created by automation, will this process be quick enough that they would be able to get right back to work, or would they still be displaced for a considerable amount of time?
In the time period between the automation being implemented, and the additional jobs that arise from that automation, should the workers that have been displaced have some sort of financial compensation to ensure they stay on their feet until they are able to get one of the new jobs?
- This, along with many of the following questions has the potential to be solved with the right kind of automation policy by the government in order to ensure those displaced by automation are not too adversely affected.
- Alternatively, should employers be incentivized to provide job training to workers who are going to be displaced? For example, someone who will lose their job to a technology is able to receive job training to be able to maintain that technology, and therefore is able to keep their job at that company.
- As we get more and more capable of automating complex tasks that were previously considered unfit to be done by robots, and the realm of jobs that are untouched by automation dwindles, would something like a universal basic income be necessary? Would an idealistic financial world even be feasible?
- For people who are privileged enough to make more money than they need to, should there be a societal obligation to accept a lower salary in order to allow for the possibility of more workers, ideally those who have been displaced by industrial robots?
Automation, like in the case of the story, can disproportionately displace groups that already face disadvantages in the workplace[1]. How will we ensure that, for all people who are displaced by automation, we are able to provide an equal opportunity for work elsewhere, as well as ensure that already disadvantaged groups aren’t being displaced more rapidly than others?
- Some jobs with higher numbers of female workers are “more insulated from displacement by technology”[1], meaning there is the potential for this to naturally offset disproportionate displacement elsewhere.
In some cases, the work that a human does might be very harsh on their body, or have other severe consequences to their health. If this process is able to be automated, is it better that they have the opportunity to work a job that will harm them, or is it better that they are put out of work, and are able to better maintain their health?
Themes
(Primary) Government, Fairness and Non-discrimination, Promotion of Human Values
(Secondary) Human Rights, Safety and Security, Identity
Resources
- Brussevich, M., Dabla-Norris, M. E., & Khalid, S. (2019). Is Technology Widening the Gender Gap? Automation and the Future of Female Employment. International Monetary Fund. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=8p-dDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=automation+job+displacement&ots=Zt5yz8zLqV&sig=4at0s2Hxo0z4NG1fhIQFWPxfH3g#v=onepage&q=automation%20job%20displacement&f=false
- Wakslak, C., Kim, J., & Quinn, E. (2019, July). Fairness Perceptions of Job Displacement Due to Automation and Outsourcing. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol. 2019, No. 1, p. 19303). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management. https://journals.aom.org/doi/abs/10.5465/AMBPP.2019.19303abstract
- Collier, D. A. (1983). The service sector revolution: The automation of services. Long Range Planning, 16(6), 10-20. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/002463018390002X
- Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2018). Artificial intelligence, automation and work (No. w24196). National Bureau of Economic Research. https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24196/w24196.pdf
- Wilson, H. J., Daugherty, P., & Bianzino, N. (2017). The jobs that artificial intelligence will create. MIT Sloan Management Review, 58(4), 14. https://www.maximo.ae/media/1306/the-jobs-that-artificial-intelligence-will-create-2-1.pdf
- Acemoglu, D., & Restrepo, P. (2019). Automation and new tasks: how technology displaces and reinstates labor. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 33(2), 3-30. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.33.2.3
- Hägele, M., Nilsson, K., Pires, J. N., & Bischoff, R. (2016). Industrial robotics. In Springer handbook of robotics (pp. 1385-1422). Springer, Cham. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-32552-1_54#Sec1
Image Credit
Creator: “Peter Potrowl”—https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Peter17
Source: “Uploaded work”—https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robot_ABB_3.jpg
License: “CC BY 2.5”—https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
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