How Advances in Technology Have Affected Employment in the US Research Paper

Introduction

Thesis Statement: In the United States today, there is the worry that advancement in technology will displace people from their work and this will create unemployment in the country.

The industrial revolution is a period that occurred between the 17th to 19th centuries. Some changes were experienced in the manufacturing, mining and agriculture industries. All changes experienced in these sectors affected the socio-economic and cultural conditions that started in Britain and after that, it spread to other parts of the world including the United States and Europe. The changes which were experienced as a result of industrial revolutions changed the history and the people of the United State” ( Everett, p. 54).

In the 17th century, there was a transition experienced in the United States which was from manual labor and an animal-based economy in the country replaced by machines. This revolution started with mechanization in the textile industries and the development of iron tools that facilitated the production of machines that were used in other industries. Technology is the use of artificial programs that enhance people power in working, Human beings have realized that with the advancement of technology, instead of technology helping the general population, it has impacted negatively on the socioeconomics of the country as a result of the flexibility of machines being created by human beings which have led to the loss of jobs in the United States, therefore, job insecurity has increased because of the advancement of new technologies, specifically the microprocessor-based technologies which includes the use of computer and its applications which are growing at a rapid phase. Such elimination of workers is called technology displacement. The current way of technology advancement in the United States is just a continuous process that occurred in the mid-twentieth century (Brewster, p. 43).

Robot

Nowadays in the United States, there is much concern about the technological advancement in the job sector because this new technology has displaced much of the jobs in the manufacturing industry in 1983 and this will result in the loss of 200,000 jobs in the United State. The workers in the United State at the moment are worried about their future employment (Garrison, p. 34).

Manufacturing Industries

Wherever there is the inclusion of robots in the manufacturing industries there will be a loss in jobs in those industries. The increment in robotic technology and its applications in manufacturing industries has an effect on job layout in the United State. In the year 2006, research was conducted by Institute for Employment Research predicted that by the end of 2010 there will be approximately 2000 robots in the manufacturing industry and the effects of this will displace 35 percent of the workers who are employed in the manufacturing industry and 60 percent in the automobile industry who are involved in painting. In the United State, it is estimated that 30,000 robots are in use in the manufacturing industry and this figure is estimated to increase soon, at the moment this figure represents for every one robot being deployed in the manufacturing industry, “1.500 workers in the manufacturing industry are being laid off. It is estimated that 400.000 workers have been displaced” (Athey, p. 90).

Mechanization

“Due to the adaptation of mechanization in the United State in the agricultural sector, America unemployment will increase by 15 million by the year 2020, while the country’s economy will grind to a complete standstill” (Autor, p. 87). When farmers in the United State use machines will do the work previously which was being done by humans in the agricultural industries, for example, jobs like spraying chemicals to farms. It is estimated that mechanization in the agricultural sector is gobbling employment in the US at a rate of 3 thousand per week and about five hundred thousand every year.

Economic

The magnitude of mechanization is being felt in the United State at the moment because the entire economy of the country has been altered so that to give room for the usage of these new advanced methods in the agricultural industry. Mechanization has greatly improved work in agricultural sectors because one tool could accomplish the work of more than 20 men combined as was the case a few years earlier. “As a result of profitability brought about by these machines in farming, many people who previously worked in the agricultural sectors lost jobs” (Berthwall, p. 66).

Computer Applications

There have been many predictions about the increase in Computer applications in the United State. Certain jobs in the United State have been affected disproportionately by the advancement of computers, and these changes have induced mass unemployment in the country. The trend in the United State today is that for every job that a person applies he must have skills in Information Technology (IT), The advancement of technology has made it hard for graduates who don’t have any form of training in Information Technology to get jobs. We are seeing the Information Technology sector in the United State making billions of dollars but it does not employ the local people. The majority of these companies will outsource their services to other places in the world where the cost of production will be lower as compared to the United State e.g. Microsoft outsourcing computer hiring programmers from India. There is also an increasing trend whereby companies are recruiting people from other countries with high-level of Information Technology skills, despite the availability of talent which is found in the United State. These companies are doing this because people coming from other countries like India will demand low wages as being compared to their counterparts in the United State.

Issues of Unemployment

The economy of a particular is of two types i.e. active and economically inactive. The people who are involved in the economically active are the people who are willing to work and this will also include people in the manufacturing industry. the issue of unemployment in a country can be defined as; people who are willing to work but they are unable to secure employment due to the effects of technology. The other category is those people, who are involved in economically inactive, “and this will refer to a type of people who are not working but they are not interested in looking for jobs because they don’t have any qualifications or they are still students” (Bailey, p. 76).

Types of Unemployment

“They are various types of unemployment in the business world, but this article will try to address structural unemployment which will occur as a result of changes in the structure of an industry due to technology advancement” (Nalishan, p. 99). The government should try to address this causes that create unemployment in a country:

Changes in Technology

When the demand for a product changes, this will have an impact on the workforce because they will be no production taking place and companies will lay off their workers and this will contribute to unemployment in a country. When we relate this to technology, the government must control the amount of technology that is coming into that country; they can do that by controlling that technology that will increase unemployment in that country.

If many companies which produce the same type of products are concentrated in one particular place, then it will make people who are seeking work find it difficult in finding new jobs because those companies will introduce unhealthy competition, and this will kill the job market in that particular place. The government should try to control these companies so that they are evenly distributed across the county. The government can do this when they offer tax incentives to those companies which are investing in remote areas in the country.

Marxian methodology

The government should introduce Marxian methodology, this type methodology is trying to get rid of those people who are overaged in the national workforce and these vacancies left behind by the old aged people will be taken by the younger people. The government can do this by lowering the retirement age in the country; they can say when a person reaches the age of 65 years they should retire from working. The advantage of Marxian methodology will accelerate the economic growth and this will create more jobs for the youth and this will address the process of unemployment.

Frictional Unemployment

Frictional Unemployment is caused by industrial friction and this is brought about due to lack of raw materials and this will lead to breakage of machinery used to produce goods, and the people who are operating these machines will suffer as a result of lay off that will happen to that industry. The government should try and make raw materials readily available to the industries and they can do that by lowering the taxes being charged on a raw material that is entering into the country. The other cause of frictional unemployment is ignorance; ignorance is brought about when those people who are qualified but are not employed are not aware of the existence of jobs in the country. The government should try and come up with a database where companies which have vacancies in their workplace should advertise and this will create awareness in the youth who are unemployed.

Conclusion

The government should realize that a high unemployment rate will affect the country both economically and socially, if a Country has a high unemployment rate it will not usefully it labor resources and this will mean the country will be less efficient and as a result of that the government will not be able to provide for it citizens. Some social problems will be brought by the high unemployment rate, for example, there will be a rise in criminal activities which will be bad for the country.

As much as we are saying the effect of technology will contribute to high unemployment in a country, some benefits have been achieved due to the advancement of technology. For example with technology, it is possible to communicate with other people in the other part of the world, the introduction of biotechnology has increased the food technology that is found in the country.

Works Cited

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