Newly published research runs counter to the hope that the rise of automation should create as many jobs for human workers as it destroys. Computer modeling suggests a downward trend, and real-world statistics from the 1990-2007 time period confirm the effect, MIT’s Daron Acemoglu and Boston University’s Pascual Restrepo say. A report on the research in The New York Times says blue-collar men without college degrees are hit especially hard, which helps explain the angst behind last November’s Rust Belt support for Donald Trump’s presidential run. (Though maybe not totally.) The study also suggests that new jobs created by technology aren’t created in the same places where jobs disappear – as demonstrated by Seattle’s tech-fueled boom. For more about the links between automation and unemployment, check out our “Bot or Not” coverage.
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