FOUR
JOB CREATION IN THE FACE OF GROWING AUTOMATION
In many cases, jobs that used to be done by people are going to be able to be done through automation. I don’t have an answer to that. That’s one of the more perplexing problems of society.
—JOHN SCULLEY
We want to consider not only worker well-being today (see Chapter 3), but also what the outlook will be for worker well-being in the future, particularly whether capitalism can create enough jobs for people in a future marked by growing automation. The International Labor Organization, an agency of the United Nations, estimates that the number of unemployed worldwide is now over 200 million and is likely to get worse.1
Consider that in the 1870s, 70 to 80 percent of the U.S. population was ...
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