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The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines
Why the United States lags behind other industrialized countries in sharing the benefits of innovation with workers and how we can remedy the problem.
The United States has too many low-quality, low-wage jobs. Every country has its share, but those in the United States are especially poorly paid and often without benefits. Meanwhile, overall productivity increases steadily and new technology has transformed large parts of the economy, enhancing the skills and paychecks of higher paid knowledge workers. What’s wrong with this picture? Why have so many workers benefited so little from decades of growth? The Work of the Future shows that technology is neither the problem nor the solution. We can build better jobs if we create institutions that leverage technological innovation and also support workers though long cycles of technological transformation.
Building on findings from the multiyear MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, the book argues that we must foster institutional innovations that complement technological change. Skills programs that emphasize work-based and hybrid learning (in person and online), for example, empower workers to become and remain productive in a continuously evolving workplace. Industries fueled by new technology that augments workers can supply good jobs, and federal investment in R&D can help make these industries worker-friendly. We must act to ensure that the labor market of the future offers benefits, opportunity, and a measure of economic security to all.
The United States has too many low-quality, low-wage jobs. Every country has its share, but those in the United States are especially poorly paid and often without benefits. Meanwhile, overall productivity increases steadily and new technology has transformed large parts of the economy, enhancing the skills and paychecks of higher paid knowledge workers. What’s wrong with this picture? Why have so many workers benefited so little from decades of growth? The Work of the Future shows that technology is neither the problem nor the solution. We can build better jobs if we create institutions that leverage technological innovation and also support workers though long cycles of technological transformation.
Building on findings from the multiyear MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, the book argues that we must foster institutional innovations that complement technological change. Skills programs that emphasize work-based and hybrid learning (in person and online), for example, empower workers to become and remain productive in a continuously evolving workplace. Industries fueled by new technology that augments workers can supply good jobs, and federal investment in R&D can help make these industries worker-friendly. We must act to ensure that the labor market of the future offers benefits, opportunity, and a measure of economic security to all.
- GenresEconomics
192 pages, Paperback
Published October 3, 2023
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91 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 28, 2022
There are multiple, independent parts of this book, of widely varying quality.
The first section makes and substantiates the compelling argument that the new technologies that are being rolled out (automation, robotics, AI) will impact employment over a long time horizon (~40 years), consistent with historical technologies. This section is five stars and makes the book worthwhile overall.
The second section discusses the authors' ideas of improving jobs, especially for workers on the lower end of the spectrum (less than four year college degree). I wholeheartedly agree that this is an extremely worthy goal but the suggestions offered are not novel and there is nothing new in their arguments for the goals, and I find the arguments not persuasive at all.
* Raise minimum wage: maybe, there are some studies that raising it does not lower employment by much, but additional, government-mandated wage increases are likely to be offset on other dimensions (e.g. worker flexibility) that the worker may value more highly
* Increase union strength: I have no problem with unions but unions seem to be most effective at securing a higher proportion of surplus for workers, rather than increasing worker productivity, at the expense of employer flexibility. Maybe unions are less common now simply because they fail to raise workers' living standards?
* Cities are more productive (as the book notes) but the authors advocate redirecting federal research dollars outside of cities. Intentionally limiting the productivity of research doesn't seem like the right course of action
* Update tax code to reduce favoring of capital relative to labor. On the other hand, the book explicitly notes how many businesses are buying too little automation, leading to lower worker productivity. Maybe the authors need to decide which side of the fence they stand on in this case.
Lots of references to European workers, lots of references to technological investment goals, lots of references to improving worker skills but no new ideas, very little compelling research to point the way to the government achieving any of this.
In fact, there's a sure-fire way to increase worker productivity (and, thus expectedly, living standards): have them move to cities (the book acknowledges the accepted truth that workers in cities are more productive). The problem with cities is the increased cost of living, but there's an accepted truth that reducing building restrictions can reduce cost of living. Yet this option is never discussed even though it's something that would be much easier for government to achieve than the options mentioned in the book.
So: two stars fro the second section of the book. The authors should have quit while they were ahead.
The first section makes and substantiates the compelling argument that the new technologies that are being rolled out (automation, robotics, AI) will impact employment over a long time horizon (~40 years), consistent with historical technologies. This section is five stars and makes the book worthwhile overall.
The second section discusses the authors' ideas of improving jobs, especially for workers on the lower end of the spectrum (less than four year college degree). I wholeheartedly agree that this is an extremely worthy goal but the suggestions offered are not novel and there is nothing new in their arguments for the goals, and I find the arguments not persuasive at all.
* Raise minimum wage: maybe, there are some studies that raising it does not lower employment by much, but additional, government-mandated wage increases are likely to be offset on other dimensions (e.g. worker flexibility) that the worker may value more highly
* Increase union strength: I have no problem with unions but unions seem to be most effective at securing a higher proportion of surplus for workers, rather than increasing worker productivity, at the expense of employer flexibility. Maybe unions are less common now simply because they fail to raise workers' living standards?
* Cities are more productive (as the book notes) but the authors advocate redirecting federal research dollars outside of cities. Intentionally limiting the productivity of research doesn't seem like the right course of action
* Update tax code to reduce favoring of capital relative to labor. On the other hand, the book explicitly notes how many businesses are buying too little automation, leading to lower worker productivity. Maybe the authors need to decide which side of the fence they stand on in this case.
Lots of references to European workers, lots of references to technological investment goals, lots of references to improving worker skills but no new ideas, very little compelling research to point the way to the government achieving any of this.
In fact, there's a sure-fire way to increase worker productivity (and, thus expectedly, living standards): have them move to cities (the book acknowledges the accepted truth that workers in cities are more productive). The problem with cities is the increased cost of living, but there's an accepted truth that reducing building restrictions can reduce cost of living. Yet this option is never discussed even though it's something that would be much easier for government to achieve than the options mentioned in the book.
So: two stars fro the second section of the book. The authors should have quit while they were ahead.
July 3, 2023
Quick and concise read that talks about the future of work, the role of AI/Automation will have in eliminating some jobs and creating new jobs. It also provides strategies and reccomendations on how to survive in changing workplace
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews