When someone asks you if robots are taking over our jobs, there are only two possible answers: (1) Yes and (2) I don’t know.  If you chose (2), then your job will probably be one of the first to go.

If in fact a robot does replace your job, you will not be alone; each robot gaining employment in today’s economy will displace 5.6 workers and reduce overall wages by as much as .5 percent per 1000 employees in the process.  While it’s true that some humans will be employed in designing, building and maintaining these robots, this will not make up for all the lost jobs, or else there’s little reason to do this in the first place.

Ideas abound on how to rejigger the economy and lessen the impact of these changes.  Bill Gates suggests a tax on robots that could fund training and financial support for displaced workers.  Others have proposed laying the burden of care for the jobless on the robotics companies themselves.  Yet another radical idea is to implement a guaranteed basic income, paid for by a robotax. Finally, there is the optimistic view that robots will take over dangerous, menial and degrading work, while generating more higher level, satisfying jobs in the process.   So far, no word on what those jobs might be. <continue reading>