In The News

Africa’s Rising Middle Class – And Why It Matters

Tom Jackson February 25, 2016
There are varying reports on the exact size of Africa’s middle class. Depending on definitions and income levels, the middle class could represent 6 percent or 34 percent of the overall population, reports Tom Jackson for New Africa Magazine. Yet analysts agree that consumer markets, opportunities and technological advances are expanding. The population is young, and the continent’s median age...

How Technology Could Unwind a Decade-Long Trend in Global Trade

Luke Kawa February 24, 2016
Globalization pushes production and jobs to emerging economies while automation in technology has reduced jobs in the developed economies, explains Luke Kawa for Bloomberg Business. The article is based on a note to clients from analysts at the Goldman Sachs Group Inc. led by Senior Asia Economist Goohoon Kwon. As robots become less costly, companies will move production closer to customer bases...

Your Job Is About to Get “Taskified”

Mary L. Gray February 18, 2016
Many in the digital industry are auditing jobs and identifying each task to increase productivity and give more assignments to temporary workers. “Corporations, from the smallest start-ups to the largest firms, can now ‘taskify’ everything from scheduling meetings and debugging websites, to finding sales leads and managing fulltime employees' HR files,” explains Mary L. Gray for the Los...

AI and Robots Threaten to Unleash Mass Unemployment, Scientists Warn

Clive Cookson February 16, 2016
Almost any task performed by humans could be automated, and development of robots could soon replace most human jobs. Computer scientists Moshe Vardi of Rice University and Bart Selman of Cornell University warned the American Association for the Advancement of Science, that “governments – and society as a whole – were not facing up to the acceleration of AI and robotics research,” reports Clive...

Number of Workers per Retiree Declines Worldwide

Joseph Chamie December 22, 2015
Most governments must juggle budgets and confront the fact that the world has fewer people of working age to support the swelling ranks of the elderly. Joseph Chamie, a demographer, analyzes the Potential Support Ratio, or PSR, and suggests the statistic could reveal more about the overall health of an economy than GDP or other common indicators. “The PSR has weighty implications for governments...

As China’s Workforce Dwindles, World Scrambles for Alternatives

Kathy Chu and Bob Davis December 15, 2015
China’s factory workers were once willing to work long hours for wages as low as “a few dimes an hour,” report Kathy Chu and Bob Davis for the Wall Street Journal. But China is aging, workers expect higher wages; factories invest in technology: ‘The changes will mark a new chapter in the history of globalization, where automation is king, nearness to market is crucial and the lives of workers and...

Imagine America If Steve Jobs’ Father Was Turned Away Because He Was Syrian

Nick Hanauer December 10, 2015
Immigration is interconnected with US values, innovation and prosperity. Some US presidential candidates propose denying entry to refugees fleeing civil war and terrorism in Syria. One candidate went so far as to propose a sweeping, unworkable and unconstitutional ban on Muslims entering the United States. In an opinion essay for the Seattle Times, venture capitalist Nick Hanauer argues that US...