This International Labour Day,
here is a book that looks into the future of work. As we commemorate the rights
at work that were incrementally earned over a century by means of labour
movements, the cruel irony is that we are facing a future where there is much
less work in the form of formal employment. As machines become adept at solving
tasks, how do humans find ways to sustain economically? Without work, how do we
define the meaning and purpose of life?
Daniel Susskind is an
economist at Oxford University and the co-author of the much- acclaimed The
Future of Professions. Having been
part of the British Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, he has considerable
experience at the highest levels of policy making in the United Kingdom. The
influence of having dabbled in the world of ideas that work on the ground
shines through this book, as Susskind grapples with technology and automation that
decimates work that humans perform, and argues how we must respond and rise up to
this challenge.
The structure of the book
clearly demarcates the three sections - threat, context and response – each with
four chapters. In the first section, Susskind examines the historical context
of misplaced anxiety throughout the industrial revolution when machines continually
displaced human labour. Through the historical examples, he seeks to understand
and compare tasks performed by humans and machines. Understanding how machines
work is helpful in estimating what kind of work they are likely to displace humans
at and others they require humans to collaborate with.
In the second section, Susskind
explores unemployment theoretically. Here, the author elaborates on task encroachment
by machines, differentiates frictional from technological unemployment, and
examines the relationship between technology and inequality. In the third
section, the author moves on to how we can respond to the unemployment
challenge posed by automation. He discusses the role of education, state
regulation and corporations in responding meaningfully to the reality of less
and less work in the world.
If you want an overview of the
type of changes that are coming in the world of work, this is a good book to
begin with. The approach taken to understanding the issue is predominantly
economic, but Susskind also brings in perspectives from history and sociology
to augment his arguments. The language is clear and succinct and the parts are neatly
organized. In fact, there is a structural symmetry to the form led by the
content of the book. A high recommendation for graduate students, academics,
policy makers, and the lay reader alike.
