I was reading an article over the New Year's holiday that suggests tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs may be lost to advances in technology. In one sense, they're correct, but in the real sense they've totally missed the boat.
The fact is, we're doing it to ourselves. When Obama and his minions decided that $15.00 an hour should be the nation's minimum wage, a whole slew of companies which employed entry-level employees started looking for ways to cut those labor costs so that they could stay competitive in the world market. As a result, there was and is a huge push on for labor-cutting technology across the service and manufacturing sectors.
Some major cities such as Seattle have seen a mass exodus of restaurants moving into the suburbs where the $15.00 wage does not apply. Some major companies such as McDonalds and Burger King are already testing vending machines that will allow customers to place their orders and have them pop out of a machine as opposed to getting them over the counter with human order-taking involved. Technological computerized "virtual assistants" are replacing secretaries and administrative assistants; I operate a small business with fewer employees because we're computerized.
The problem here, as you can see, is that our cost of labor is artificially high, especially when you factor in benefits. We've allowed the cost of labor in this country to soar much faster than in any other industrialized economy. And when it comes to competing with Japan, China and India, slapping an import tax on their goods is very likely to fuel a worldwide inflation.
The fact is, we're better off having people work a full 40-hour week at a lower wage than being unemployed or working a 20-hour week at a 50% higher wage. If labor costs can be contained, there really is no reason to look for ways to replace it.
Let's put the blame where it belongs.
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