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Are robots the answer to the shortage of elder care workers?

A study of Japanese nursing homes found that productivity, quality and quantity of care improved after the adoption of robots.
The International Federation of Robotics says interest in professional service robots is largely driven by staff shortages and lack of applicants.
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Longshoremen strike for better pay and to stop automation

Oct 2, 2024
About a hundred striking longshoremen marched by one of the terminals in the port of Baltimore. Some carried signs that say “machines don’t feed families.”
Longshoremen on strike at the Port of Baltimore on Oct. 1, 2024.
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Calling customer service? Good luck speaking to a human.

Sep 23, 2024
To reach a human representative, some companies have started charging a premium. Those unwilling to pay will have to stick with the bots.
One reason companies have replaced human customer service representatives? Bots are cheaper, says Emily Stewart at Business Insider.
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Why coal mining jobs have disappeared

Aug 19, 2024
Automation in coal mining has increased productivity and reduced employment in the industry.
Automation in coal mining has increased productivity and reduced employment in the industry.
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AI could automate over half of banking jobs

Jun 21, 2024
A new report by Citi looks at the financial tasks that will be delegated to AI — and the new ones that will crop up.
One thing AI won’t be as good at as human bankers? Dealing with human customers.
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Workers used to earn about two-thirds of the income their labor generates. Now, it's just over half.

Apr 12, 2024
The stat, called labor share of national income, is being squeezed by globalization, declining union membership and automation.
Even though workers' slice of the pie is shrinking, the U.S. economy is growing, so they're getting a smaller slice of a bigger pie.
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Thanks to AI, more U.S. workers worry that technology threatens their jobs

Sep 11, 2023
In the past, technology has displaced jobs but the economy has continually created new ones. Some experts see greater losses this time.
Many college-educated workers are anxious about the potential for their jobs to be automated, a new Gallup poll finds.
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For public good, not for profit.

AI lessons from the telephone operators of the 1920s

Aug 17, 2023
In the early 20th century, thousands of young women worked as telephone switchboard operators. Automation changed that.
If you were a working woman in the early 20th century, there's a good chance you were a telephone operator — until mechanical switching took over the job.
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Artificial intelligence will impact workplaces and cost some workers their jobs

Jul 27, 2023
A new report from the McKinsey Global Institute says some will lose their jobs and low-wage workers are the most likely to be hit.
Lower-paid jobs, like those in food service, are more likely to disappear because of AI and automation. Some already have.
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Hotels and restaurants have had trouble hiring, so they innovated

Jul 17, 2023
That’s meant automating some tasks once done by humans and thinking carefully about the humans they do hire.
After two summers of worker shortages on Cape Cod, some restaurant and hotel owners have become more efficient, "enabling them to operate with a smaller staff,” the Beige Book says.
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