Why robots won't steal all our jobs

Washington

DON'T worry, the robots won't destroy all our jobs. History suggests just the opposite - that new technologies inspire new jobs. So concludes a study from leading labour economists. It's a useful antidote to widespread fears that robots and "artificial intelligence" will displace millions of workers and lead to permanently high joblessness.

No doubt, the anxiety is real. Despite a low unemployment rate, 4.4 per cent in June, roughly a quarter of Americans (26 per cent) think their present job will be eliminated by new technologies within the next two decades, according to a recent Gallup poll. Half those jobs supposedly would vanish within five years. The Gallup report mentioned truck drivers (vulnerable to self-driving trucks), taxi drivers (already threatened by Uber) and surgeons (facing robotic operating machines).