My wife, who is a graphic designer and has moved to latest tech all the way from photo-typesetters, now does the work of: typesetter, typist (people used to re-type the copy), pasteup artist, courier, several people at the printer (making plates, printing, packing, labelling, sending), postman and post sorting. They distribute PDF files mostly, via email marketing and a web site. Stock photography workers that would send slides, and I am probably missing some roles in there.
This was indeed a productivity improvement, and a lifestyle improvement for her. But it is not clear that it was for all the others involved previously. It is correct that the expectations are higher than they used to be for the same amount of money paid (colour print, quality of design etc.), but I am not sure this makes up for the loss of jobs for those that aren't involved anymore.
I know some of these roles have moved on to do other things, but as far as I can see it seems like we have what they call a "jobb-less recovery" where technology provides efficiency and productivity improvements for the few, but leaves a lot of people behind.
Where I live, Sweden, people are well educated, the economy is doing well, and we have a substantial youth unemployment. I know it is a fairly complex problem as I have a hard time finding skilled developers for example, ie there are jobs to be had, but the courier and the guy working at the printer previously can probably not retrain to those jobs easily.
This was indeed a productivity improvement, and a lifestyle improvement for her.
If that's the state of affairs, good for her. But talk to my previous boss, who recently elebrated his 80th birthday. He knows the times when he would write a manuscript, hand it to his secretary, who would type a fair copy, and then it would go off to the publisher, where it would go to the typesetter (a union man), and then the plates would go to the printer (printing press operated by a union man, too).
A couple of years back he was invited to write a review, and he was absolutely livid for several days. The publisher had requested camera-ready copy; they gave him formatting instructions, he had to deal with the minutiae, and what he handed in did not conform to specifications, so he had to do more formatting. At the end of the day, all the labour-saving devices did not save him time, although they certainly made Springer/Elsevier/Pergamon/whatnot plenty extra bucks. Some progress.
A smooth transition for society would take the cooperation of a government, the business leaders, and the labor force. That just doesn't seem like it will ever really happen in America, but I'd be hopeful of some other countries (smaller the better chance I'd guess).
Business will just keep seeking profit until the social issues start affecting them directly. That's just what they do best.
>I know it is a fairly complex problem as I have a hard time finding skilled developers for example
Start picking up some of those junior developer applications that you get. Obviously that's not the courier and printer guy, so maybe I'm missing your point, but a lot of the difficulty of matching employers to employees is the high (sometimes ridiculous) demands on the applicants because the employers believe they have the upper hand in the market. Appraising developer skill can be tricky business anyway, so you may have passed up the guy who can fill the spot if you're only checking to see if they have a few years of experience.
This was indeed a productivity improvement, and a lifestyle improvement for her. But it is not clear that it was for all the others involved previously. It is correct that the expectations are higher than they used to be for the same amount of money paid (colour print, quality of design etc.), but I am not sure this makes up for the loss of jobs for those that aren't involved anymore.
I know some of these roles have moved on to do other things, but as far as I can see it seems like we have what they call a "jobb-less recovery" where technology provides efficiency and productivity improvements for the few, but leaves a lot of people behind.
Where I live, Sweden, people are well educated, the economy is doing well, and we have a substantial youth unemployment. I know it is a fairly complex problem as I have a hard time finding skilled developers for example, ie there are jobs to be had, but the courier and the guy working at the printer previously can probably not retrain to those jobs easily.