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The new technological revolution could hurt workers more than is commonly thought and prepared for.
The finding is disappointing, to say the least, with regard to the current and worrying situation for the future. A report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) this week said that despite the good performance of the economy in general, workers' wages are slow to improve, with a rate of growth twice as slow as before the last crisis
It is not that the number of unemployed people is so high. On the contrary, in most rich countries, it is even below what it was before the Great Recession of 2008. No, it is as if the link between economic growth and wages had been broken. [19659003] OECD experts attribute this "unprecedented wage stagnation" to a combination of factors. One of them is the rise, modest as well, of prices. Another is the deterioration of the conditions of part-time workers and those who have found work after a period of unemployment. Another is the weakening of the balance of power of the workers with the halving of the union presence.
Another factor is the sluggish growth in productivity. In addition to being disappointing, this increase in wealth produced per hour worked often lands, it is found, in other pockets than those of workers. These lost economic spinoffs are explained, half, by a phenomenon now well known, that is to say their capture by the richest, while the other half would reflect economies where the role of the hand -working in wealth creation has declined in favor of technological progress and gains made through the globalization of value chains.
This "significant" decline in the relative importance of workers in the economy has been on average 3.5 percentage points (from 71.5% to 68%) in 20 years in OECD countries, it is reported, but by 4.1 points in Canada, 7.8 points in the United States and 13 points in South Korea.
This phenomenon is likely to announce what is waiting for our economies in the coming years, concluded last month a study of the experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the impact of automation and intelligence arti
Worse Than Expected
Wearing Evocative Title " Do We Fear the Robot Revolution? The correct answer is yes the study reviews the main hypotheses on the subject – optimistic as pessimistic – and concludes that it would be wrong to think that this new technological revolution will happen like the others, it that is, it will only affect a relatively small number of workers and that eventually everyone will end up with better paid jobs because of productivity gains.
this time, a very large number of workers are exposed and the transition could take 20 to 50 years. The economy will indeed be richer, but this wealth will be produced more and more by robots and will benefit first and foremost their owners and a small elite of highly specialized workers. More and more low-skilled workers will struggle for low-wage jobs
The main solution usually put forward by experts and governments is to improve education and promote continuous training for workers. But that will not help those who will be short of the skills required, and probably will not change the fact that the new wealth created will be more and more attributable to machines rather than to workers, says the IMF study. 19659003] Another solution could be to make companies pay a universal basic income for the citizens of these new economies, argue its authors, who immediately admit that the project would meet many economic and practical obstacles.
however, they say of the current technological revolution, "the situation seems to be different this time."
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