Why the tech sector may not solve America’s looming automation crisis
&quot;Automation crisis&quot; reminds me of &quot;peak oil.&quot; Take a current problem (high unemployment, high oil prices), ignore the reasons for them (the global financial crisis, disruption oil supply along with increased oil demand), and instead construct a strange eschatological reason for the problem (machines are taking all of our jobs, we&#x27;re almost out of oil).<p>Let&#x27;s look at actual measures of automation - productivity growth. It&#x27;s been very low over the past decade[1] when compared to decades past. Prime age employment has been returning to pre-crisis highs[2] - despite people claiming that the old jobs were gone and new jobs wouldn&#x27;t replace them (the machines were supposedly going to take them all).<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bls.gov&#x2F;lpc&#x2F;prodybar.htm" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bls.gov&#x2F;lpc&#x2F;prodybar.htm</a>
[2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;data.bls.gov&#x2F;timeseries&#x2F;LNS12300060" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;data.bls.gov&#x2F;timeseries&#x2F;LNS12300060</a>