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Nathan Mageau
Ms. Caruso
UWRT 1103
25 February 2016
How Does the Advancement of Technology Affect the Job Industry?
Technology has been advancing at a continuous pace for hundreds of years. Thousands of
agricultural workers were replaced by the cotton gin in the late 1700s. Horse carriages were
eventually replaced by cars and washing clothes by hand for hours was replaced by todays stateof-the-art washing machines where all it takes is the press of button. Although technology is
known to be such a key component to our society, if it is to continue to grow exponentially could
this phenomenon pose a possible harm to society? Not in a sense that robots will one day destroy
the human race, but will they eventually cause raging unemployment and one day eliminate the
need for humans to work in any occupation? There are several writers for well known
organizations that each have varying opinions on this potentially global issue.
Wendell Wallach, a consultant, ethicist, and scholar at the Yale University
Interdisciplinary Center for Bioethics, defines technological unemployment as the concept of
technology killing more jobs than it produces. Wallach and numerous others have noticed the
rapid speed that technology is advancing at and the potential financial harm this could pose
towards the lower/middle class of America. One study done by Oxford University in 2013
concluded that almost half of the current jobs in the United States could become computerized in
the next few decades which supports this prediction (Thompson). Many jobs such as business
secretaries, travel agents, and telephone operators have already been replaced by technology at a
vast scale and there are several other jobs being targeted. One such occupation is truck driving,

which according to data from the US Census Bureau, is the most popular job in 29 states and is
currently at risk of being replaced by self driving cars currently being tested by Google and
Tesla. If this form of technology is to be developed and used, there could be possibly millions of
middle class workers out of a job. Also, this will have a negative effect on food businesses along
the highway that rely on the service from these truck drivers, which could result in more cut jobs
(Nuwer). This possible reality has really opened my eyes to the millions of people that could be
affected by self-driving cars. Taxi drivers may also be out of work in the near future as well,
which could cause there to be another huge chunk of the lower/middle class to be out of work.
Cadie Thompson, a writer for Business Insider, brings up a differing yet just as
concerning point; that is that many of these new technological industries are much different than
the older ones. For instance, automobile companies such as Ford and Chrysler that have been
around since the early 20th century, bring in billions of dollars in revenue and employ millions of
middle class workers. On the other hand, new technological companies such as Google and
Apple make trillions of dollars and employ only hundreds of thousands of workers. This is
causing our countrys already existing wage gap to increase at a ridiculous rate (Thompson). Jim
Edwards, another writer for Business Insider, wrote an article to combat many of the statements
made by Thompson. He believes that all of this concern is a huge overreaction over something
that has been occurring for hundreds of years. He states that although companies such as
Facebook and Twitter only employ hundreds of thousands of workers directly, they also employ
millions indirectly through advertising. Also, there are several individuals who make their living
by selling goods on eBay and Amazon (Edwards). David Autor, a professor of economics at MIT,
agrees with Edwards. He is quoted saying Market economies are never sitting still. Industries
rise and fall, products and services change- and thats been going on for a very long time.

Nuwer, a writer for BBC, contradicts the argument that these two men are trying to make. She
points out in her article that technology has been advancing faster than ever before and that the
employment market may not be able to keep up with the new technological innovations of our
generation. Also, there are some people whose jobs have been taken by technology and they have
had to revert to a lower paying job because they dont have the skills or credentials to find a job
in the same range of pay. For example, telephone operators and travel agents have been forced to
find jobs in landscaping or house cleaning (Nuwer). Carl Frey, co-director of the Oxford Martin
Programme on Technology and Employment at the University of Oxford, makes a good point in
the same article that some jobs that could be automated might not be just because some
individuals would not prefer it. He uses the example of restaurants using robots to take orders,
deliver food, and refill customers beverages. Many people much rather have a human perform
these tasks instead of a robot. I agree with Frey in a sense that I, along with many others, would
not want my everyday interactions to be with a robot. I think that it would be pretty interesting in
some instances but I also believe that denying human interaction at a large scale could have a
negative effect on the way we treat others when we do converse.
Katie Allen, a writer for The Guardian, introduces some important points defending the
argument that technology is creating more jobs than it is destroying. Allen says that many of the
jobs that have been eliminated in the past are jobs that we would not want to be doing anyways
such as washing clothes by hand or jobs in the labor intensive agricultural industry. David Autor
agrees with Allen, because he believes that technological innovations have increased our time to
accomplish other tasks, our quality of life, and health. He uses the example of power tools
increasing the speed of construction and architectural work. Allen also states that these changes
in society have encouraged people to pursue more intellectually straining jobs such as health and

teaching professionals. This has resulted in our society becoming more educated and we have
progressed because of it. Another case she makes is that technology has caused prices for many
things such as televisions, food, and cars to be cheaper which gives people more money to spend
on leisure activities. This, in result, increases demand for new jobs (Allen). I agree with Allen
because throughout history jobs have become a lot less labor intensive and education has become
a defining factor that employers are looking for in almost all of todays job markets. We have the
technology we have today because being educated has become much more important in society
than tending to crops or working a simple job on a assembly line.
In conclusion, the amount of varying opinions on this extremely broad topic has given me
a slight headache, but at the same time has informed me on the possible direction our society is
going because of the precipitous growth of technology. It never stops and many believe that it is
improving faster than ever before. This is concerning to me personally because all of the facts
and opinions I have gathered and analyzed has come from very credible sources. Whether it was
professors at stately universities or writers for organizations whose job it is to investigate this
category of issues (Business Insider), I found it very hard to form my own opinion because of the
strong arguments each individual made. Maybe one day I will have a robot to help me
understand lifes most complex questions.

Works Cited
Allen, Katie. "Technology Has Created More Jobs than It Has Destroyed, Says 140 Years of
Data." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 18 Aug. 2015. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/aug/17/technology-created-more-jobs-thandestroyed-140-years-data-census>.

Edwards, Jim. "This Idea That Technology Destroys Jobs Is Garbage."Business Insider. Business
Insider, Inc, 05 June 2015. Web. 24 Feb. 2016. <http://www.businessinsider.com/newtechnology-does-not-destroy-jobs-or-create-unemplyoment-2015-6?r=UK&IR=T>.
Nuwer, Rachel. "Will Machines Eventually Take On Every Job?" BBC. BBC, 6 Aug. 2015. Web.
24 Feb. 2016. <http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150805-will-machines-eventually-take-onevery-job>.
Thompson, Cadie. "We've Reached a Tipping Point Where Technology Is Now Destroying More
Jobs than It Creates, Researcher Warns."Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 03 June 2015.
Web. 24 Feb. 2016. <http://www.businessinsider.com/technology-is-destroying-jobs-and-itcould-spur-a-global-crisis-2015-6>.