Running out of work we were told by the same people who thought inflation was over. We can learn something from this for the future.
Not so long ago, economists and journalists (insofar as they exist) who are considered respectable promised us that, thanks to technological progress, sooner or later we will lose our jobs. Robots, artificial intelligence and digital networks, we were told, would lead to unprecedented mass unemployment.
“The gloomy future of work” saw the magazine “Profil” in 2016 for the near future – that is, the present day – and cited studies according to which millions of people would lose their jobs in the coming years, and not just unskilled workers , but also highly qualified people. “47 percent of all US jobs are at risk from robots and digitization,” it read, “Economists at German bank ING-Diba (reach conclusion): Of the 30.9 million employees they considered in their study, they 18 million replaced by robots and software over the next few decades.”