UN study: Automation stands to reduce opportunities for low-wage workers in North America, the report from the UN Conference on Trade and Development states. But the types of jobs most likely to be eliminated entirely are more prevalent in developing nations. That’s because those same jobs, in sectors like farming and manufacturing, have already mostly dried up in wealthier nations as corporations have moved their operations abroad, in search of higher profits through lower wage costs.
"The study, conducted by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute (EPI), finds that from 2000 to 2014, American workers’ total productivity increased 21.6 percent, while the median worker’s compensation, including pay and benefits, rose just 1.8 percent.
The new data continue a trend that goes back decades. From 1973 to 2014, "American worker productivity increased 72.2 percent while median worker compensation rose just 8.7 percent. From 1948 to 1973, by contrast, typical worker compensation and productivity grew at roughly the same rate.