Professional Courses
Industry-relevant training in Business, Technology, and Design to help professionals and graduates upskill for real-world careers.
Categories
Interactive Games
Fun, engaging games to boost memory, math fluency, typing speed, and English skills—perfect for learners of all ages.
Typing
Memory
Math
English Adventures
Knowledge
Enroll to start learning
You’ve not yet enrolled in this course. Please enroll for free to listen to audio lessons, classroom podcasts and take practice test.
Interactive Audio Lesson
Listen to a student-teacher conversation explaining the topic in a relatable way.
Automation-Induced Job Displacement
Unlock Audio Lesson
Today, we're going to discuss how automation is impacting job displacement, particularly in sectors like construction. What do you think happens to jobs when we introduce automation?
Well, I suppose many people could lose their jobs if machines take over their tasks.
Exactly! Automation replaces repetitive and manual labor, which means many low-skilled workers might face unemployment. Let's think about the sectors most affected. Can you name any?
Construction and surveying, right?
Well done! The construction sector is indeed a prime example. Automation can significantly enhance efficiency, but it also presents ethical challenges we must address. Why is it important to discuss these issues?
Because we need to think about the people losing their jobs and how we can help them.
Absolutely! Let's move on to how we, as engineers, can take responsibility. Can anyone think of ways we could help those displaced?
By providing retraining programs!
Correct! Retraining workers for new roles is one way to mitigate the impact of job displacement caused by automation. Remember this acronym: RISE, which stands for Retraining, Hybrid roles, Impact assessment, and Security.
In summary, automation does improve efficiency but also raises significant ethical concerns about job loss. Retraining and creating new job roles can help balance these challenges.
Responsibility Toward Displaced Workers
Unlock Audio Lesson
Now that we've established the issue of job displacement, let's dive into the responsibilities we have towards those affected. What should engineers focus on?
They should make sure that there are retraining opportunities.
Very true! Providing retraining opportunities is essential. Beyond retraining, what else could engineers do?
Creating hybrid roles where humans can work with robots could be helpful.
Great suggestion! Hybrid roles can support workers transitioning into new job functions while still utilizing their existing skills. This leads us to another responsibility — job security. Can anyone explain how we can ensure job security?
By being transparent about how automation is implemented and involving workers in the process.
Exactly, fostering transparency and involving workers can create a sense of security. To remember these responsibilities, think of the mnemonic 'A.R.E' — Adapt, Retrain, and Engage.
In summary, engineers bear the ethical responsibility of ensuring displaced workers have opportunities for retraining, are engaged in hybrid roles, and feel job security. This holistic approach helps balance technology's impact on our workforce.
Introduction & Overview
Read a summary of the section's main ideas. Choose from Basic, Medium, or Detailed.
Quick Overview
Standard
Automation has the potential to displace low-skilled labor in fields such as construction and surveying. Civil engineers and organizations have an ethical obligation to support displaced workers through retraining, creating hybrid roles, and ensuring job security, as the rise of robotics and AI reshapes the job landscape.
Detailed
The section discusses two critical subtopics related to the impact of automation on employment and human labor. First, it highlights the issue of automation-induced job displacement, particularly for low-skilled workers in the construction and surveying sectors. It recognizes that while automation improves operational efficiency, it poses a risk of significant unemployment among these workers. Second, the section underscores the responsibility of civil engineers and companies toward those displaced by automation. Ethical considerations include providing retraining opportunities, creating collaborative human-robot roles, and ensuring job security as much as possible. These responsibilities illustrate the broader ethical implications of technological advancement, emphasizing the need for engineers to play a proactive role in workforce development. This section is significant as it sets a foundation for understanding how technology must consider human impacts, aligning with the ethical standards and responsibilities outlined in the chapter.
Audio Book
Dive deep into the subject with an immersive audiobook experience.
Automation-Induced Job Displacement
Unlock Audio Book
Signup and Enroll to the course for listening the Audio Book
Automation can replace repetitive and manual labor, potentially leading to large-scale unemployment among low-skilled workers in construction and surveying sectors.
Detailed Explanation
This chunk talks about how automation and robotic technologies can take over jobs that require repetitive manual tasks. When machines are capable of doing these tasks more efficiently, businesses may prefer to use them over human workers, resulting in job losses, especially for those with lower skill levels. For example, in construction and surveying sectors, many traditional roles may become redundant as robots and automated systems take their place, which raises concerns about the future of employment for many workers.
Examples & Analogies
Consider a construction site where brick-laying is done by humans. As brick-laying robots are developed that can work faster and with greater precision, construction companies might choose to invest in these machines instead of hiring workers, leading to fewer jobs available for people who used to perform this task. This transition mirrors how automated teller machines (ATMs) replaced many bank tellers, illustrating how jobs can be lost to automation in various sectors.
Responsibility Toward Displaced Workers
Unlock Audio Book
Signup and Enroll to the course for listening the Audio Book
Civil engineers and companies have a social responsibility to upskill or reskill workers displaced by robotics or AI. Ethical considerations include:
• Providing retraining opportunities
• Creating hybrid roles for human-robot collaboration
• Ensuring job security where possible
Detailed Explanation
Here, the focus shifts to the ethical responsibility of engineers and companies towards workers who lose their jobs due to automation. It suggests that businesses should not only prioritize efficiency but also consider how their actions affect people's livelihoods. This can involve providing retraining programs to help displaced workers learn new skills that are in demand, creating hybrid jobs where humans and robots work together, and ensuring job security to the extent possible to mitigate the impact of technological change.
Examples & Analogies
Imagine a factory where machines are used for assembling products, potentially displacing assembly line workers. If the company provides training programs to help those workers learn how to operate the machines or transition into supervisory roles overseeing the robots, it not only aids the displaced workers but also foster a more skilled workforce that can adapt to new technologies. This proactive approach can be compared to how some coal mining companies in the U.S. supported workers in transitioning to renewable energy jobs.
Definitions & Key Concepts
Learn essential terms and foundational ideas that form the basis of the topic.
Key Concepts
-
Job Displacement: The loss of jobs due to automation replacing human labor.
-
Social Responsibility: The ethical obligation of companies and engineers to support displaced workers.
-
Retraining: Providing skills training to help workers transition into new job roles.
-
Hybrid Roles: Jobs that involve collaboration between humans and automated systems.
Examples & Real-Life Applications
See how the concepts apply in real-world scenarios to understand their practical implications.
Examples
-
In construction, automated machinery can perform tasks like brick-laying, which traditionally required human labor, leading to unemployment in that sector.
-
Companies may offer retraining programs to help workers transition into roles that involve managing or maintaining automated systems.
Memory Aids
Use mnemonics, acronyms, or visual cues to help remember key information more easily.
🎵 Rhymes Time
-
Automation at play, jobs fade away; train them anew, it's the right thing to do.
📖 Fascinating Stories
-
Once in a busy construction site, machines took over tasks, leaving workers worried. The site manager decided to create new roles for them, bridging human skills with machines, ensuring everyone was secure and learned new methods together.
🧠 Other Memory Gems
-
Use the acronym RISE for Remembering how to respond to job displacement: Retrain, Integrate, Secure, Engage.
🎯 Super Acronyms
A.R.E for remembering our responsibilities
- Adapt
- Retrain
- and Engage.
Flash Cards
Review key concepts with flashcards.
Glossary of Terms
Review the Definitions for terms.
-
Term: AutomationInduced Job Displacement
Definition:
The process where automation technologies replace jobs traditionally performed by humans, leading to unemployment or the need for worker retraining.
-
Term: Retraining Opportunities
Definition:
Programs and initiatives designed to provide existing workers with the skills to transition into new roles that are in demand due to technological changes.
-
Term: Hybrid Roles
Definition:
Positions that combine human capabilities with automated systems, allowing workers and machines to collaborate effectively.
-
Term: Job Security
Definition:
The assurance that employees will not lose their jobs as a result of automation and will have opportunities for continued employment.