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| Victor Figueroa |
The international labour movement tends to consider the direct impact of technology on workers, especially job losses. Historically, technology has tended to replace labour, intensify it, and allow work processes to be reorganised. This is why we tend to speak of the ‘impact’ of technological change upon workers. This word highlights that workers, without control over the economy and with limited say in politics, have been exposed to the negatives of technological change. A misleading narrative
In recent years there has been a lot of noise about the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, with concerns about ‘the future of work’ expressed in headlines such as ‘Millions in South East Asia to lose jobs to automation’ (Cruickshank 2016) , or ‘Adapt or die: How to cope when the bots take your job’ (Wall, 2018). These help to keep unions focused on this aspect of technological change. But this is not the first time workers have faced predictions of doom.
Back in the 1960s and the 1980s there were widespread concerns that robotisation and microelectronics would destroy jobs. With hindsight we see substantial changes to the economy, including job losses, but also that the pace, scale and impact of change was nowhere near as catastrophic as initially feared. Below a certain pace of change, the processes destroying, changing and creating jobs level each other out. And if technology is accompanied by investment in training, education and compensation, its worst effects can be much reduced.
