Automation in the Workforce: Adapting to Change and Navigating the Impact on Jobs and Society

Adapting, progressing, surviving. Humans have evolved significantly which can be seen in the high-tech machinery that has been created. Machines that are now replacing human workers, reducing manufacturing costs and doubling profits. This is formally known as automation in the workforce. Due to this automation, many people are losing their jobs and the economy is changing. In 1589 a man named William Lee created the first machine. The machine was a stocking frame that created rough wool which was used for stockings. Automation became a larger impact in 1760 during the industrial revolution. It was the change to new manufacturing methods and equipment. Computers and memory devices were introduced in the production process which required little human assistance which was revolutionary.

There will be many people in the 21st century that will be affected by the automation that is happening in the workforce as their jobs will be taken over and companies will no longer require them. Many companies are implementing new technology into their workforce as time goes on. The OECD estimated that 14% of jobs are at a high risk of automation, ranging from 1.1% of chief executives and senior officials to 50.1% for food preparation occupations. Elementary occupations such as pickers and labourers are at the most risk and professional occupations such as managers and directors are the safest from automation. This is because the ai and machinery that is available at this time is not advanced enough to complete more complex tasks that require mature decisions. An example is the technology we have available now can't take over a doctors job however machinery can be used in operating theatres in hospitals handing doctors equipment.

Beneficial Impact of Automation in the Workforce Sphere

Automation in the workforce introduces many benefits that will help businesses become successful and succeed. Machinery can be used and operated without any human intervention and can completely cut out the role of a human worker. Some benefits that automation can achieve are: Improved safety and security, better product Quality, Higher product output and freedom from mundane. These are some of the benefits automation brings to many industries. Since there isn't any human intervention, safety increases as no one can hurt themselves. Equally important there is freedom of mundane. This is caused because machinery do not have feelings or emotions so won't have conflicting interests or slow down when working long hours. machines can produce more products and the business can diversify and produce different products. This will increase the business tax that the government will receive from them and since they are producing different products the business will get stronger and more consumers will buy from them. This could potentially create more jobs as when a business grows they will need more staff to handle the paperwork and the new quantity of products. However, some blue-collar manual works will be left without a job.

Workers that have been redundant due to automation in the workforce is are vulnerable to developing mental health issues and therefore costing the government. A recent survey of mental health in found that 1 in 6 people aged above 16 experienced a common health problem such as depression and anxiety. In addition, The household longitudinal study (UKHLS) suggests that 700,00 unemployed people had poor mental health in January 2021. Poor mental health can be anything from depression to becoming bipolar. This is very dangerous as it can permanently affect an individual's life. It is costing the government in more than one way because if someone loses their job they will no longer be paying tax. This means the government will be receiving less money from the tax-payer since machines don't earn a wage or pay tax. This suggests the government will have less money to spend on the NHS, welfare and local council budgets will decrease. By losing a job many lives will be in danger. People can fall into illnesses from the stress if being made redundant and unable to efficiently find another job. If the population needs NHS treatment the government will need to spend more money on the NHS, further increasing the debt, to support all the new people that need help due to losing their jobs due to automation.

One way to solve the financial burden that leads to mental health issues on an individual is to introduce a permanent method of income. This may sound familiar as it could be classed as benefits. The downside to this is that the governments' system can be taken advantage of. Once a person starts to receive benefits that may never consider working again which will damage the economy or they might try to find a cash in hand job to avoid taxes and keep receiving benefits. Finland carried out a study into universal basic income in 2017-2018 were the government gave 2000 unemployed people aged between 25-58 monthly payments with no strings attached. Universal basic income is when the whole population is given an equal amount of money on a regular basis without having to comply with any rules or have any special conditions etc. The whole population is eligible for it. The results from the Finland study showed that people on the basic income worked 78 days compared to the 72 days worked by those who receive benefits. This is one of the studies that proves that universal benefit income should be introduced in other countries to decrease the amount of unemployment and encourage those on benefits to start working. In addition, if an individual loses their job they may not fall into depression or get any mental health problems as they will know that they will survive due to the universal benefit income. The downside to the study is that it was only done in Finland were the culture is different. If this study was done somewhere else such as the people could act very different since each country has their own culture. A disadvantage would be the government will struggle financially to keep paying the regular instalments as they will rapidly add up to a big amount. However, if this decreases unemployment there will be a huge rise in the amount of tax received and could strengthen the economy. A challenging factor with universal benefit income would be in scenarios such as a lockdown. An individual would receive the universal benefit income along with furlough schemes. Many people that are not employed would rebel at this and argue it's unfair as certain people were made redundant during the pandemic and some people were not eligible or did not receive any income from furlough. On the other hand, universal benefit income could have been the missing factor in lockdown and could have helped a lot of people and solved a lot of problems.

Machines and technology have come a long way since 1589, from creating stockings all the way to putting nuclear weapons together that can destroy a country in a matter of minutes. The advancement of machinery and technology is becoming increasingly dangerous and uncontrollable but only in recent years, automation is becoming a problem for blue-collar workers. 'Robots have worked with humans in America's manufacturing factories for over 50 years but the technological advancement has gone hand in hand with increasing employment'. Since there are thousands of machines working every second in a warehouse they need to be watched over by humans to make sure they don't malfunction or cause a safety risk. This creates jobs and decreases the percentage of unemployed people. Unfortunately, these roles are usually catered for individuals that have a certain level of qualification and speciality. Some companies provide training and teaching but most firms prefer employees to already be qualified. This puts blue-collar workers at risk because the machines are taking over their jobs and they are unable to get another job as they are not qualified enough. The average age of a manual labour employee is 41.3. At this age, it is very difficult to go back to university and get qualified for a job. This is because they will have commitments and responsibilities such as family and not have time to learn or even the ability due to their age. A factor we must consider is the working population may prefer atomisation to happen rather than it to stop. Automating the workforce can help ease the workload that is put on the workers. This means the staff will be happier as they will have less stress on them and can result in more products being produced at a greater quality. In addition rather than a company spending hundreds of thousands on machinery to replace their workers they could invest in fewer machines that can work along with humans that will help with the workload. If the company staff are happy with their job they are more likely to work longer and take fewer days of which will benefit the economy.

We have only seen the tip of the emerging iceberg related to automation and technology implemented in the workforce. More advanced ai is becoming available as the days go and at one point there will be no need for any workers and warehouses and manufacturing lines can be run 247 with no need for any human involvement. Amazon has spent $775 million to purchase a robotics company that carry shelves of products to workers. Amazon has introduced robots in their huge warehouses for a while now and it's working very well. They are still human workers to package the products however they are halfway there to make a fully automated warehouse. A different approach that could potentially be explored in the remainder of this century is changing the human gene. At the start of 2017, a professional team used a gene-editing tool called CRISPR-CAS9 and was able to remove and replace part of a human embryo's DNA. This technology can be further adapted to change certain genes in the human DNA to improve and add desired features that would be attractive to employers and make the human do the job better than a machine. This will cause a positive impact because the amount of unemployment will decrease. There are some ethical issues with this because some people believe that God created a human and should not touch or alter the genes. Furthermore, the genes can only be changed at the embryo state and could be seen as killing a human and creating a machine for the sole purpose to work. If the technology is improved and genes can be changed at any stage of life this would be very beneficial not just to the workforce but to the entire world.

Conclusion

As humans, it is natural for all of us to keep evolving and to gain knowledge. I believe that in the coming centuries complete atomisation will take over the workforce. There will be little to no human workers. Machines will create the product, secondary machines will make sure they don't malfunction and then there will be another level of technology to make sure they all work in harmony. There will be great suffering to the working class however the government will have to apply an income scheme for everyone to survive. This complete automation will happen over a very long period of time and keep increasing slowly until there are no workers needed. Prices will hugely decrease as costs of production will be next to nothing and inflation won't be a thing. The universal benefit income is a very good idea and can be extremely effective if it is treated correctly. The best possible thing to happen is for machines and humans to both work with each other in balance and proportion. The impact on workers for the rest of the 21st century will be big but it will be beneficial we are now out of the EU so certain items are not available and need to be created in the Uk.

References

• Refence: Baker, C., 2021. Mental health statistics: prevalence, services and funding in. [online] House of Commons Library. Available at: