Labour figures are starting to think seriously about how to deal with automation and the potential loss of millions of jobs.
Pic: Liam Byrne, pictured on the right
A Corbyn government must rebuild the welfare state and regulate tech giants to avert an unequal ‘dystopia’, a Labour frontbencher has said.
At the Fabian Society and Community Union’s ‘Should we fear machines?’ panel at Labour conference, Liam Byrne MP – the party’s Shadow Minister for Digital – said the principle of ensuring people are ‘free from fear of want’ has to be at core of the party’s next manifesto.
According to a report by PwC, $15tn will be added to the global GDP as a result of Artificial Intelligence technology by 2030. Yet 30% of jobs are at potential risk of automation by the mid-2030s.
“Automation could wipe out five times more jobs than collapse of coal and steel put together. The market is not going to create enough good jobs on its own,” Byrne said.
With the richest 1% on target to own two-thirds of all wealth by 2030, the Shadow Minister said the tackling the changing nature of work is urgent:
“It will be impossible to recover from that level of inequality in this century if we let that happen. It will lead to dystopia.”
Calling for an overhaul of the welfare system, he saiad: “A working class man in his 50s will have paid £100k in taxes at the point he loses his job. Yet he will have no training and have to live on Universal Credit…Jobcentre Plus has just become a rationing service.”
Byrne called for ‘mid-life career reviews’ and an increase in investment in skills and training – particularly in the creative industries – alongside a expansion of wealth taxes.
.@LiamByrneMP: to deal with automation we need to 1) reinvent the education system 2) make substantial reforms to the Labour market – strengthen role of unions, put workers on boards 3) give workers a greater choice of good jobs #Fabians @CommunityUnion
— The Fabian Society (@thefabians) September 25, 2018
Caroline Flint MP – a former employment minister in the last Labour government – opposed calls for a Universal Basic Income for all citizens, after figures like Richard Branson and Elon Musk backed the policy:
“UBI seems like a nice thing for billionaires to say while they avoid paying tax.”
She added: “Companies need to pay their fare share and that will require transparency.”
Flint called for a re-balancing of the economy, away from London:
“There’s no reason why creatives could’t be based in places like Doncaster, where tech allows them to work there in a way that wasn’t poss 30 years ago.”
Tech firms also face calls for regulation. Liam Byrne called for an overhaul of competition law to prevent tech firms becoming even more monopolistic:
“Platform capitalism is creating new technopolies: Facebook’s buyout of WhatsApp didn’t trigger a competition probe – despite Whatsapp having data on over a billion users accounts.”
The TUC’s Paul Nowak gave a note of optimism: “I’m wary about accepting the premise that the forthcoming wave of technology will mean a net loss of jobs and that it is inevitable. The danger is that we let companies off the hook.”
And a senior Google figure – Alina Dimofte – said workers should ’embrace’ the changes to come: “We need to inspire hope in workers – not to fear technology but to embrace it.”
Dimofte, Google’s Head of Public Policy and Government Relations, also raised eyebrows calling for a greater role for unions in training: “Trade unions know more about what their workers need than anyone from the outside.”
Josiah Mortimer is Editor of Left Foot Forward. Follow him on Twitter.
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.