Technological innovation as a risk of job loss

The production of goods and services involves the use of instrumentscalled production factors, to transform raw materials into goods and services that can be offered in markets for consumption.

Among these productive factors we can highlight the most relevant:

1. Machinery and equipment used in production (capital).

2. The job.

In the period prior to the Industrial Revolution, the tasks that were carried out to produce goods and services were intensive in the use of the labor factor. For example, tasks related to harvests or agricultural production. However, with the passage of time, and mainly due to the appearance of new technologies, certain tasks and jobs replaced the use of labor by capital, that is, by machines.

labor for capital

The replacement process began during the Industrial Revolution with the invention of the steam engine and other devices such as the use of lathes to perform tasks previously performed by skilled craftsmen.

Although the process of substitution of labor for machinery for production began in the eighteenth century, it is currently constant and has undergone a particular intensification in the last thirty years.

The growth in the intensity of the appearance of new technologies, although it has made it possible to increase the productivity of the economies, that is, to produce more goods and services in less time or with better quality, has also caused a greater substitution of workers for machines. .

A simple task, such as making coffee, is currently performed by robots in some cafes in South Korea. Consequently, the belief has been generated that technology, or robotstake jobs away from people, increasing unemployment and generating a battle of humans against robots.

Irreplaceable

Despite everything, technological innovations cannot replace humans in all productive tasks, which relegates the battle humans vs robots to a fictional plane more than a real one.

This is because there are different types of tasks in the production of goods and services, and not all of them can be automated:

• routine manuals: repetitive tasks, which require the use of physical force and are also associated with dexterity in the fingers and the manipulation of small objects.

• Non-routine manuals: like routine manual tasks, they require the use of physical force but are not tasks that are constantly recurring.

• Routine Cognitives: repetitive tasks that require the use of thought, such as telesales jobs.

• Non-routine cognitive: These types of tasks require abstract thinking, the ability to critically solve problems, and communication skills. In addition, these tasks are not repetitive.

Based on this classification of tasks, it can be said that the tasks that are automated, or with the highest risk of this happening, are routine tasks, both cognitive and manual, as they are repetitive tasks that can be performed by a machine or robot. without major inconveniences.

Non-routine tasks are less likely to be performed by a robot. Non-routine manual tasks are characterized by being influenced by aspects that cannot be replicated by machines or robots; for example, cultural aspects. On the other hand, non-routine cognitive tasks are the least automatable tasks of all, since critical thinking and communication skills cannot be partially or totally replicated by a machine.

beat the machine

The solution for humans to win the battle against robots is for workers to be employed in tasks with low risk of automation. Now, for this two things must be given:

1. In order to develop this type of tasks, technical preparation, study and learning of the tasks to be carried out to carry out these tasks are necessary (learning by doing). Therefore, education (formal and informal) must take a leading role, allowing people to undertake tasks that have a low risk of automation.

2. Jobs must be generated for the production of goods and services that do not require non-routine tasks. Based on the latter, knowledge-based services, which make intensive use of high technology and require skilled workers to take advantage of technological innovations, emerge as a solution to this problem.

Since the Industrial Revolution began the substitution of human labor for that of machines or robots. However, we are in time to win the battle, focusing on training and instruction, as well as the generation of jobs in services that use technological innovations as a complement.

Juan Manuel Rodriguez Repeti, Researcher and professor, Buenos Aires’ University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.