Part
1
More
and more jobs are at risk of being outsourced to a cheaper and more
efficient robot. Is your job one of them – and if so, will a
universal basic income (UBI) prove to be the panacea for increased
automation?
Many
or most of us wish we could work shorter hours and have more time for
family, friends and fun. The struggle to reduce the working day spans
several generations. In the 19th century our ancestors, fighting
tooth-and-nail with banner in hand, won several victories.
Following
the February 1848 Revolution in France, the nation’s working day
was capped at 12 hours. Four years earlier in the UK, the British
Factory Act had reduced the maximum working day to 12 hours for
adults and 6.5 hours for children. In 1868 the US congress approved
an “Eight Hour Work Day for Employees of the Government of the
United States” and following the two revolutions of 1917, Russia’s
new authorities reduced the working day to eight hours and introduced
both pensions and unemployment pay. Other governments have followed
suit over the past century and many countries now have laws limiting
the official working week for most jobs to around 40 hours.
Alongside
the battle to reduce daily working hours, over the past two centuries
workers have also fought a struggle to safeguard their jobs and
livelihoods in the face of increased mechanization.
In
the early 19th century groups of craftsmen and workers, known as
Luddites, smashed newly developed factory machines which they feared
would make their craft redundant and force unemployment upon them.
Over the past several decades, advancements in electronics and
computing have revolutionized the working world, creating new jobs
and industries.
However,
the onward march of technology has trampled on the manufacturing
industries of Europe and North America, causing the loss of millions
of jobs as humans become replaced with cheaper and more efficient
robots who work longer hours and don’t require holidays, sick pay
or pensions. In the decade between 2000-2010, in the US alone jobs in
the manufacturing industry declined by 5.6 million. However, output
increased as the vast majority of job losses were due to automation
rather than international trade agreements.
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