Morning Must-Read: Technology and Jobs: Should Workers Worry?
Global Conference 2015 | Technology and Jobs: Should Workers Worry? » Milken Institute:
The Beverly Hilton | 9876 Wilshire Blvd. | Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 / 3:45 pm – 4:45 pm
Moderator: Josh Barro, Correspondent, New York TimesSpeakers:
- Brad DeLong, Professor of Economics, U.C. Berkeley
- Jeremy Howard, CEO, Enlitic
- Gerald Huff, Principal Software Engineer, Tesla Motors
- Amy Webb, Digital Media Futurist; Founder, Webbmedia Group
For centuries, people have worried that new technologies will destroy jobs without creating enough new ones, and every time the doomsayers have been proven wrong. But today, with disruptive advances occurring at dizzying speed, some worry that the time may finally have come when more jobs are destroyed by technology than are created. One 2013 report by Oxford University researchers concluded that 47 percent of U.S. jobs are threatened by automation. Should workers be worried, or is the fear overblown? Is technology–from robots to intelligent digital agents–our friend or a threat? If the latter, what do we need to do to ensure employment by the middle class and others? How can we reorganize our business and economic system to avert more economic turmoil?