Technology and jobs

New tech destroys jobs. What can we do about it?

Some experts say that technology will also create new jobs. The product that suffers the innovation gets cheaper, so the consumption increases and companies need more people to satisfy the demand. In the end, the new technology creates more occupations than it destroys.

There is also another factor that no one comments on. It's a fact that there will always be problems and needs We must conceive work not as a way to survive, to have money, or to pay the rent but as a way to improve our world. We can always make ourselves and our environment better. This is something that no machine or technology can destroy, and at the same time, it will never end.

Both factors have their limitations, also. Let's see those points of view in more detail.

New tech makes things cheaper

If we look at the technological revolutions of the past, we can see that they have generated a lot of jobs, both directly and indirectly. Good examples are the textile and automobile industries.

The industrial revolution made possible the production of clothes in large quantities with low prices. Machines destroyed some jobs and created many others.

The revolution generated many qualified and unqualified jobs. Engineers needed to design and maintain the machines, while different levels of managers organized and coordinated large quantities of products and people. At the same time, many workers with no expertise went from villages to cities to work in those factories.

Many businesses have grown as a consequence of those changes. The fashion industry, the retail sector, and shopping centers in all cities have some relationship with the textile revolution.

The car is another example that occurred much more recently. The assembly lines and production on a large scale made it a cheaper product. That created jobs in car firms but also stimulated many other sectors. The geographic distance became smaller; people could move freely. The car has generated thousands of indirect jobs in ludic activities, hotels, restaurants, and more.

New tech drawbacks

In the end, the technological revolution has created many more jobs than it has destroyed. But that change is not automatic in time, and it does not affect the same people.

- Time. New technologies destroy jobs first. New career options appear much later. Meanwhile, a significant part of the population is left behind.

- People. The people unemployed by the machine will not always be the same that will get the jobs made available by new technology. Some workers will be able to learn and adapt, but many others won't.

In the long run, the emergence of the new technology will create many jobs. In the short term, it will also create many problems. The progress will exclude part of the population.

Marketing to find new jobs

There is a new factor that I have never heard. To understand it, we should revisit the concept of marketing.

Marketing tries to find the problems and needs of a group of people and then organize resources to make products and services to satisfy those needs.

There will always be problems and needs. That is something that will never end.

It's true that machines are destroying jobs now. But new technologies also make old processes more efficient. It frees up time, money, and energy to focus on other problems. That's progress; it's an opportunity to make a better world.

The concept of enterprise and job

Sometimes we forget the most basic question—what is a company? It's people and resources organized to solve a problem at a profit.

That connects with the concept of marketing that I talked about in the previous section. Marketing tries to know what a group of people want and organizes means to help them. In the end, marketing helps to create new companies and improves the existing ones. We will have jobs if we can find ways to help people by solving problems and needs.

I frequently hear people, and even expert economists, talk about jobs as something that the society or government should provide to citizens to have a decent life. Everybody asks: how can we create more jobs for people? It seems that the focus is on finding things to do.

I think that perspective forgets the basics I was talking about.

The key is to focus on the idea of solving the problems of a segment of the population. That creates companies, and make us progress, getting better.

Difficult to put into practice

That process is difficult. Not everybody has an entrepreneurial mindset. Only a few can predict what people want and know how to build companies that satisfy the demand. We should perfect that process, and this is where we should put the emphasis.

There will always be new jobs because there will always be problems and needs to satisfy. We should not be so worried about robots and tech. The accent should be on improving the process to create companies.

There will always be new technology that will menace a sector. When this happens, someone has found a way to solve a problem in a more efficient way. We should be happy about that. Forget the job lost and concentrate on the new problem to solve.

I know that's not easy to put into practice. If you have no job and you have to pay the rent next month, all that I explain here could not be very useful for you. All the process needs is time and knowledge.

Tools to create jobs

Some people say that education is necessary to find a job. Another group advises that you should study something you like, you must be passionate about a subject, and that will give you the tools to make a living.

For me, education is an instrument to understand a problem and find better solutions.

We should try to face the obstacles that we could solve with the knowledge that we have or that we could acquire in a reasonable time.

Computers are an example. In the last few years, there has been an explosion of programming. New technologies made it possible to solve a new range of things. Learning programming gives you the tools to tackle the needs of broad segments of populations.

I enjoy programming. For me, it's a pleasure in itself. But it also gives me the means to help many people and in the end, make money with it.

Programming is just an example. Knowledge in general is necessary to detect needs and organize people and money to serve them. Create companies to make a better world.

Conclusion

Tech destroys jobs. There are reasons to be worried. Many people will be affected.

I am also sure that there will always be new jobs. Each problem or need is an opportunity to create a company. It can help a group of consumers and at the same time, make a living for a group of workers.

That's the essence of marketing. Marketing teaches us how to segment the population, detect needs, and organize resources to meet those needs.

That process helps us to improve our society and make things better.

New tech improves things. We can do the same tasks with less time, less effort, fewer resources, and fewer intermediaries. We should be thankful for that. It will destroy jobs also, but we cannot do anything about that. It's better stop whining.

We have to concentrate our energies on perfecting the process of creation of new companies. Solve new problems, and make a better world.