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This sounds like good news. I've read lots of negative stories about the working conditions in Amazon warehouses. It would be great if all the jobs could be automated.
> It would be great if all the jobs could be automated ... If all the capital could be distributed.
Why? We didn't contribute much yo the development of Amazon's specific machines.
Oh, you're saying you are entitled to it?
"That would amount to more than 1,300 cuts across 55 U.S. fulfillment centers for standard-sized inventory." ... "removing at least 24 roles at each one, these people said. These facilities typically employ more than 2,000 people." I'm surprised that number is so low. There's only a couple dozen people out of 2000+ that actually put orders in boxes?
> A key to its goal of a leaner workforce is attrition, one of the sources said. Rather than lay off workers, the person said, the world’s largest online retailer will one day refrain from refilling packing roles.
and
> The machines have the potential to automate far more than 24 jobs per facility, one of the sources said.
Fantastic, less human labor in one sector means new opportunities in another.
Let's not pretend that Amazon is some benevolent force here. It's the same company that sets work targets high enough to force employees to have to pee in bottles and penalises sick and pregnant workers for taking time off or breaks. [1]
[1] https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-hav...
Fantastic, less human labor in one sector means new opportunities in another.
Something tells me people will find a way to complain about this. And that those people will be the same people that think Amazon's warehouse policies are oppressive.
IMO the best "counterargument" here is that those were jobs which paid folks who then paid into their local economy. That goes away with robots and becomes more revenue. Lots of folks are in favor of a "automation tax." I'm not sure how I feel. Note I'm not arguing these points, but merely pointing them out.
Amazon has a long track record of aggressively reinvesting its profits.
This sounds like good news. I've read lots of negative stories about the working conditions in Amazon warehouses. It would be great if all the jobs could be automated.
Is there a field of study associated with job creation? The answer is not actually obvious. There's a lot of research into efficiency, which is almost synonymous with job destruction. Edit: Thanks for the answers below. I was thinking of academic areas of research. For example, Macroeconomics, Labor Relations, Governance, Management Theory etc.
Something tells me people will find a way to complain about this. And that those people will be the same people that think Amazon's warehouse policies are oppressive.
Amazon warehouses ARE oppressive.
And there's nothing superficially wrong with automating the picking and packing of boxes.
The problems come later, and it's not Amazon's "fault" but rather a much larger problem that eventually we'll all have to deal with: what happens when "enough" people get involuntarily shoved out of the workforce, with vanishingly remote prospects of securing other paying work?
This sounds like good news. I've read lots of negative stories about the working conditions in Amazon warehouses. It would be great if all the jobs could be automated.
> It would be great if all the jobs could be automated ... If all the capital could be distributed.