The lost jobs

Several posts ago I asserted that many of the jobs that have been lost in this recession will never come back, and that we had better revise our educational system to prepare the next generation for different, more technological, jobs.   In that respect I found the article in today's New York Times online highly relevant: Skilled Work, Without the Worker.  Watch the embedded video - it will blow you away.

Clearly if robots take over a large proportion of today's factory jobs, it will have substantial impact on the whole world of work. Costs of many goods will drop sharply, because in many industries the largest cost component is the cost of labor along with its benefits.  Robots don't need benefits, only occasional maintenance. Robots can work 24/7 without meals or coffee breaks. Robots don't demand unions, or pay raises.

What do the displaced people do? Well, they had better learn to design, improve, sell, program and maintain robots. Or they had better learn to do creative, intellectual jobs that robots can't do.