May 8, 2017

Reality check: Technology is killing fewer jobs than ever

Despite widespread fears that artificial intelligence and automation will create mass unemployment, job losses due to technology are at historic lows, according to an analysis published Monday by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation.

The stats: Levels of occupational churn in the United States — defined as the rates at which some occupations expand while others contract — are lower during this decade than at any point since the 1850s.

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Data: Information Technology & Innovation Foundation; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

Sound smart: Despite the potential for unprecedented labor-market displacement brought on by recent developments in artificial intelligence, a central problem of the economy today is actually too little displacement, as evidenced by statistics showing slow productivity growth. Without gains in productivity that result from the application of new technologies to business, the value an individual worker produces can't rise significantly, and that means that his wages likely won't rise, either.

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Dion Rabouin

Unemployment fell to 50-year low in 2019 but wages stagnated

Data: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chart: Axios Visuals

Friday's jobs report missed expectations, but still delivered solid numbers, showing the U.S. economy added well over 100,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained near a 50-year low.

The big picture: BLS reported that the number of people who were employed part time but would rather be full-time employees declined by 507,000 over the year.

Go deeperJan 13, 2020 - Economy & Business

Marisa Fernandez

Wages for typical workers are rising at their fastest rate in a decade

Construction workers holding a rally in the Bronx. Photo: Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images

Wages for nonsupervisory employees — who make up 82% of the workforce — are rising at the fastest rate in more than a decade, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Why it matters: It indicates that the benefits of a tightening labor market and a time of historically low unemployment rates are finally being passed along to most workers.

Go deeperDec 27, 2019

Dion Rabouin

Growing divide between the two Americas

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

Life in the U.S. is increasingly divided into two realities — one in which things have almost never been better and another in which it's hard to imagine them being worse.

Driving the news: Bankruptcies led more companies to announce job cuts last year than at any time in more than a decade, WSJ's Aisha Al-Muslim reports (subscription), citing data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

Go deeperJan 3, 2020