This is truly an old meme. Replace the word automation with: horseless carriage, assembly line, ice makers, airplanes, digital computers, etc...
I'm sure it's entirely different this time though.
I'm sure it's entirely different this time though.
Of course it is. Which is obvious if you look at how automation before differs from automation today.
And I'm going over the obvious memes now, but:
> Replace the word automation with: horseless carriage
Yes, and replace the word "human" with horse", and tell me the invention did not have a dramatic impact on the population that was doing the work.
Humans are incomparable to horses. Horses cannot buy automobiles. They do not have property rights, or the capability to utilize them.
What about the median wage?
> which shifts the demand curve for labour to the right, causing wages to increases
Are you suggesting automation has resulted in most of the new wealth being broadly distributed to workers rather than concentrated in the top 10%?
[1] http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2016/0207/Progress-in-the-glo...
[2] https://www.minneapolisfed.org/publications/the-region/where...
[3] https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/sources-of-real-wage-stag...
[4] https://www.brookings.edu/research/make-elites-compete-why-t...
2) Wage growth ignores the unemployed.
3) Ignores unemployment. "Most importantly, the growth in the average real wage is largely determined by improvements in labor productivity, output per worker hour."
4) Partially true (I very much agree with the protectionist immigration point), but there are many issues with that article as well.
With current wave of automation, unskilled jobs are being destroyed, and specialized jobs are being created. The people leaving the former can't access the latter.