Typical government response to unemployment has been to instigate public works
programmes and to manipulate purchasing power by tax policies that stimulate
the economy and lower tax on consumption. It can been seen in Australia that
governments no longer see this as the answer, in fact there is an opposite
approach with a strong movement for a goods and services tax, to redistribute
wealth, as proposed by the defeated Liberal Party of Andrew Peacock in 1992, and
now being re-introduced. Many job creation schemes and retraining programmes are
being abandoned by the new Australian Liberal Government of John Howard.
However the power of the workers and unions in 1996 is severely restricted. The
unions have lost the support of workers as reflected in their falling membership,
and no longer can use the threat of direct action with jobs disappearing fast.
The Liberal Government passed legislation to limit collective bargaining, with
unions power of direct action becoming even more eroded and ineffective because
of global competition and division of labour, and automation gave companies
many alternatives. Unions have been left with no option but to support re-
training, whether they believe it is the answer to unemployment or not.
Today, it seems far less likely that the public sector, the unions or the
marketplace will once again be able to rescue the economy from increasing
technological unemployment. The technological optimists continue to suggest that
new services and products resulting from the technological revolution will
generate additional employment. While this is true, the new products and
services require less workers to produce and operate, and certainly will not
counteract those made redundant through obsolete trades and professions. Direct
global marketing by way of the ?Superhighway’ the ?Internet’ and other forms of
instant telecommunications is making thousands of middle marketing employees
obsolete. For example the SA bank introduced phone banking some while ago, they
now are the first bank in South Australia to trade on the Internet
(http://www.banksa.com.au), and many rural banks are closing. Also, it has just
been announced by the electoral commission that voting by telephone will be
trialed next year, with enormous potential job loss.
The widely publicised information superhighway brings a range of products,
information and services direct to the consumer, bypassing traditional channels
of distribution and transportation. The numbers of new technical jobs created
will not compare with the millions whose jobs will become irrelevant and
redundant in the retail sectors.
Jones (1990) notes that there is a coy reticence from those who believe that
social structure and economics will continue as in the past, to identify the
mysterious new labour absorbing industry that will arise in the future to
prevent massive unemployment. Jones believes that industry ?X’ if it does
appear, will not be based on conventional economic wisdom but is likely to be in
areas where technology will have little application, he suggests it may be in
service based areas such as education, home based industry, leisure and tourism.
Despite Barry Jones predictions, most service industries are very much affected
by new technology. Education is fast becoming resource based with students in
primary, secondary, technical and tertiary levels expected to do their own
research and projects independent of class teachers with schools being networked
and teaching through video conferencing. The conventional teacher is fast
becoming obsolete, with the number of permanent teachers reducing,
There are numerous examples of workers in service industries being displaced by
technology. Shop fronts such as banking, real estate, travel and many more, are
disappearing. Small retail food outlets continue to collapse, with the growth
of supermarkets and food chains organised around computer technology, and on-
line shopping from home. Designers of all types are being superseded by CAD
computer design software. Even completely automated home computerised services
such as a hardware and software package called “Jeeves” is now available.
Business management and company directors are finding voice activated lap top
computer secretaries far more reliable and efficient than the human form.
The New Zealand Minister for Information and Technology, Hon. Maurice
Williamson MP, wrote the foreword for the paper ?How Information Technology
will change New Zealand’:
On the threshold of the twenty first century we are entering a period of change
as far reaching as any we have ever seen.
Since the industrial revolution people have had to locate themselves in large
centres where they could work with others, but now new technologies are
rendering distance unimportant. The skills that are needed in tomorrow’s society
will be those associated with information and knowledge rather than the
industrial skills of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Changing technology
will affect almost every aspect of our lives: how we do our jobs; how we educate
our children; how we communicate with each other and how we are entertained.
As Williamson points out, with the explosion of technologies , it is easy to
lose sight of the larger patterns that underlie them. If we look at the
fundamental ways people live, learn and work, we may gain insights about
everyday life. These insights are the basis for new technologies and new
products that are making an enormous difference in people’s lives.
Stepping back from the day-to-day research for new electronic devices, life can
be seen as being fundamentally transformed. There is development of a networked
society; a pattern of digital connections that is global, unprecedented, vital,
and exciting in the way that it propels the opportunities for entirely new
markets and leisure. As people make digital technology an integral part of the
way they live, learn, work and play, they are joining a global electronic
network that has the potential for reshaping many of our lives in the coming
decade.
In the future, technologies will play an even greater role in changing the way
people live, learn, work and play, creating a global society where we live more
comfortably; with cellular phones and other appliances that obey voice commands;
energy-efficient, economical and safe home environments monitored by digital
sensors. There will be “Smart” appliances and vehicles that anticipate our needs
and deliver service instantly. We are seeing portable communications devices
that work without wires; software intelligent agents that sort and synthesise
information in a personally tailored format; new technologies that provide
increased safety and protect our freedom, ranging from infra-red devices that
illuminate the night to microwave devices that improve radar and communications.
People are also learning more efficiently, with interactive video classrooms
that enable one-on-one attention and learning systems that remember each
student’s strengths and tailor lesson plans accordingly. There are lap-top
computers and desktop video clips that bring in-depth background on current
events with instant access to worldwide libraries and reference books with full
motion pictures.
People are working more productively, with “virtual offices” made possible by
portable communications technologies and software that allows enterprise-wide
business solutions at a fraction of the usual cost and in a shorter length of
time with massive memory available at the desktop and lap-top levels. There are
“Intelligent” photocopiers that duplicate a document and route it to a file and
simultaneous desktop video-conferencing from multiple locations, sending voice
and data simultaneously over the same communications channel.
With the explosion of leisure activities available, people play more expansively.
There are hundreds of movies available on demand at home, virtual-reality games,
a growth in the number of channels delivered by direct satellite television,
videophones that link faces with voices, interactive television for audience
participation, instant access to worldwide entertainment and travel information
and interactive telegaming with international partners (Texas Instruments 1996).
This paper has considered developments in electronic miniaturisation, robotics,
digitisation and information technology with its social implications for human
values and the future of work. It has argued that we have entering a post-modern
period and are entering a post-market era in which life will no longer be
structured around work in the traditional sense, there will be greater freedom
and independent living, paid employment will be de-emphasised and our lifestyle
will be leisure orientated.
I have argued that the social goal of full employment in the traditional sense
is no longer appropriate, necessary or even possible, that both government and
society will need to recognise the effects of technology on social structure and
re-organise resources to be distributed more equally if extreme social unrest,
inequity, trauma and possible civil disruption is to be avoided.
I foresee a scenario of a sustainable integrated global community in which
there will be some form of barter but cash will be largely eliminated, money
will be ?virtual’. A minimal amount of people will be involved and enjoy some
forms of high tech activity, while the vast majority will have a vocation that
is essentially creative and enjoyable perhaps involving the arts and music with
a spirituality that involves deep respect and care for the natural world with
new forms of individual and group interaction. There will be minimal forms of
world central democratic government. Vast forms of infrastructure will no longer
be required as citizens will largely be technologically independent. Most
communication and interaction will be instant and conducted from home, office or
public terminal. There will be new forms and ways of living, new family
structures that may consist of larger and smaller groups. A comfortable,
pleasurable and leisure based lifestyle in which all the essentials and wants
will be automatically provided through the processes of the largely self-
sustaining and self evolving technology.
Rifkin (1995) has a similar view, and concludes that he believes the road to a
near-workerless economy is within sight and that road could head for a safe
haven or a terrible abyss, it all depends on how well civilisation prepares
for the post-market era. He too is optimistic and suggests that the end of work
could signal the beginning of a great social transformation, a rebirth in the
human spirit.
References
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Jones, B. 1995 Sleepers Awake Oxford University Press Melbourne
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