Nyet King Coal
“Foreman says these jobs are going boys and they ain’t coming back.” — Bruce Springsteen, My Hometown. “At least six plants that relied on coal have closed or announced they will close since Trump’s victory in November … Another 40 are projected to close during the president’s four-year term.” President Trump’s roll back on coal and other environmental regulations is supposed to be all about job creation. But regulations aren’t really killing coal jobs. It’s natural gas.
+ The New Yorker: The Myth Of The Coal Revival.
+ Bloomberg: Remember when Trump said he saved 1,100 jobs at a Carrier Plant?
Well, globalization doesn’t give a damn. (Deep dive into the factors that lead to job losses in some industries.)
+ American workers are justifiably sweating the rise machine-driven automation. But developing countries face an even higher level of risk. “The question is, assuming that this trend toward the networked automation of factories continues — and there is little evidence to suggest that it won’t — what happens next?”
+ “Working in the fast-food industry can be hard work for little pay, and now employees have to worry about their job security as well.” Yum Brands CEO Greg Creed says robots will take over fast food jobs in next 10 years.
+ Higher paying jobs are facing threats as well. From the NYT: At BlackRock, Machines Are Rising Over Managers to Pick Stocks.