More Robots Mean More Riots?
A Discussion of “Rage Against the Machines: Labor-Saving Technology and Unrest in Industrializing England”
“Machines are going to take all the jobs,” is a sentiment I hear and read often. As an economist, I know this is not true. There will be disruption. Some jobs will be lost. Some jobs will be created.
In fact, few know how dynamic our economy always is. We all hear the unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. They also conduct the Establishment Payroll Survey where they collect information on how many jobs are gained and lost, among other things.
The report you hear in the news is the net number, jobs gained minus jobs lost. Using 4th quarter 2019 data, they reported
- 7,831,000 Total Private Gross Jobs Gains
- 7,039,000 Total Private Gross Jobs Losses
- 792,000 Net New Jobs
The last number is what would have been reported for the quarter, or approximately 264,000 new jobs each month. The news reports are usually giving the monthly net number, which is often in the plus or minus range of 200,000.
It is easy then to have the impression that literally 200,000 jobs have been created while in fact, it was over 10 times that number on a monthly basis. And the same holds for the job losses.
