Walmart Is Cutting 7,000 Jobs Due To Automation (yahoo.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Yahoo: The clairvoyant folks over at the World Economic Forum warned of a "Fourth Industrial Revolution" involving the rise of the machine in the workforce, and the latest company to lend credence to that claim is none other than Walmart, which is planning on cutting 7,000 jobs on account of automation. But the Walmart decision may be a bit more alarming for those in the workforce. As the Wall Street Journal reports (Warning: may be paywalled), the most concerning aspect of America's largest private employer might be that the eliminated positions are largely in the accounting and invoicing sectors of the company. These jobs are typically held by some of the longest tenured employees, who also happen to take home higher hourly wages. Now, those coveted positions are being automated. The Journal reports that beginning in 2017, much of this work will be addressed by "a central office or new money-counting 'cash recycler' machines in stores." Earlier this year, the company tested this change across some 500 locations. "We've seen many make smooth transitions during the pilot," said Deisha Barnett, a Walmart spokeswoman.

Comments

Re:All according to plan

[PopeRatzo]

(Fun fact: That didn't truly begin until Henry Ford started the idea of taking Saturdays off and having an 8x5 40 hour work week to retain quality workers; a concept that many misattribute to labor unions.)

I'm sorry, but you've got that wrong:

In the United States, a few limited eight-hour-day laws were on the books shortly after the Civil War. One, in Illinois, was passed in 1867, followed in 1868 by a law covering certain classes of federal workers. But neither law was well-enforced, and in most sectors, working hours of 10 to 12 hours were common. So a reduction in the work week became a leading issue for the nascent labor movement.

The issue came to a head in 1884, after the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions -- a predecessor of today’s AFL-CIO -- called for all workers to have eight-hour days by May 1, 1886. When that deadline wasn’t met, labor leaders upped the ante by calling for demonstrations. In Chicago, peaceful marches morphed into violence, with an explosion marring a rally at Haymarket Square on May 4, 1886, leaving seven police officers and four workers dead. Subsequent trials, executions and clemencies for the accused made the eight-hour week a top issue nationally and internationally.

All of this occurred decades before Ford founded his company in 1903.

Ford didn't implement the 40 hour workweek until 1926.

http://www.politifact.com/trut...

http://www.businessinsider.com...

Re: All according to plan

[turbidostato]

"The reason the economy rises is that the AVERAGE person has more ability to consume than prior."

You know that thingie called statistics. If I have one million in the bank and the other nine have zero, we all AVERAGE 100K in the bank. Still no good for those other nine.

"people will always find work"

What's that? the fifth law of thermodinamics, or something?

No, man, sorry: for most of History, people was absolutely unable to find work and it was more that a short elite forced them into work. What if that short elite has no work for them anymore?

"The 1% will make sure that people have propensity to consume. It's the natural order"

Again, have you ever opened a History book? Was a consumist society the "natural order" of ancient Egipt, or Greece, or Rome, or Middle Ages, or pre-revolution Europe? Was it the "natural order" along imperial Chine, traditional Japan, most Africa history or precolombine America?

Looking at the History book, it seems much more that your "natural order", if any, is for an elite taking benefit of most of the goodies squeezed out of a mass of people let just above the starving level. What if that elite manages not to need that mass of people to squeeze their goodies anymore?

Re: All according to plan

[Maxo-Texas]

Exactly but to be fair (which many never are) the problem is larger than reagan.

Sure cutting taxes and not cutting spending was foolish by Reagan (the president of guns AND butter!).

But, global manufacturing played a large part as our wages finally came under pressure after an incredible holiday after world war II where most of the rest of the world was destroyed. As other workers around the world at lower wages gained higher skill wages were suppressed.

The artificial part is at the high end. We need a better balanced economy because killing off lower wage workers employment kills the economy from the bottom up. Fewer TV's sold, fewer cars sold, less money available for any kind of low end luxury.