Manufacturing will revamp job market

Industrialization began with modest advances in technology that made once-tedious tasks quicker. The second wave of innovation utilized assembly lines, factories and specialization of manual labor to create a mass consumer culture where former luxury products turned into products the average citizen could afford.

Max Rubin | Daily Trojan

This culture has persisted for so long that it is generally accepted as the way things are, but that era is coming to a close. We are entering a third revolution in technology, one in which menial manufacturing tasks are becoming automated.

What many Americans fail to notice, however, are the potential implications of such a dramatic change in infrastructure. Policymaking that developed in response to our current culture will have to accommodate a culture where mass production and low- to mid-level jobs aren’t such a predominant force in the economy. As students, we’ll need to adjust our plans for entering a job market in which many potential careers no longer exist.

In many ways, Henry Ford’s idea on manufacturing remains the default: Employing hundreds of factory workers to produce large quantities of a homogenous good. This demand for unskilled labor has shaped the job market for the working class, but as software advances, the need for manual laborers decreases. Soon, they might become entirely unnecessary.

This phenomenon doesn’t just affect factory workers. Many semi-professional jobs are beginning to become dispensable. Thanks to ATMs, for example, I can hardly remember the last time I talked to a bank teller. Previously, software for machines had a margin of error large enough to require humans for certain jobs; now, an ATM can read a check accurately on its own.

The implications of such changes are global. Currently, many automated jobs are outsourced to countries with cheap labor. If cheap labor is no longer needed, the majority of production will likely move back to first-world countries.

This development could have an enormous impact on the balance of global power: Whether a country is an economic powerhouse will depend on its ability to produce the best scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs. If masses of laborers no longer matter, neither will a country’s population size.

The increase in automation and customization will also change the way we perceive the job market. On one hand, smart machines could cause an enormous spike in unemployment; on the other, it could cause an incredible increase in jobs requiring creativity and innovation.

Just as agriculture allowed members of society to specialize in occupations unrelated to basic survival, automated machines could provide people with the opportunity to focus on art and intellectual pursuits.

Positives and negatives will exist in a future where manufacturing is about software rather than labor. We’ve reached a level of technological advancement where economics, class and global policy are going to have to radically change.

We also need to consider how these changes could affect our educational and career paths, especially as students. Success in higher education and students’ majors will become much more important as professions requiring specialized skills become central to the economy.

Careers won’t be limited, however, to science-oriented fields. As mid-level jobs decline, society will be more capable of supporting less technical professions. Engineering will still matter — but fewer people would turn their noses up at a degree in English.

Burke Gibson is a freshman majoring in economics.