It is witnessed that there has been a significant decrease in the employment rate in this technology-mushrooming era. Some people claim that technology is the major contributor to the low rate of job holders. While acknowledging the underlying reasons behind this assertion, I would contend that it also offers job opportunities in emerging industries.
On the one hand, it is understandable why a number of people advocate that technology is the root cause of job erosion. The key rationale is that the advent of automation and artificial intelligence has replaced human work. For instance, numerous brick-and-mortar stores have been eliminated because of the rapid development of e-commerce, thus rendering many sales assistants unemployed. Digital business has attracted an array of consumers due to its variety of convenient services and mobility. However, this thinking needs to be revised as it overlooks that technological innovations can also trigger new jobs, especially in leisure activities such as job delivery services. Thus, laying the blame on machinery as the rationale of unemployment is an overly simplistic assumption.
On the other hand, I am of the belief that technology is also the catalyst for job generation. As technology has had breakthroughs, several companies have incorporated advanced technologies to increase productivity and expand their influence. They want to offer new services and run more advertisements, thereby creating more positions in the process such as logistics and customer services. Moreover, technological advancements have also spawned completely new jobs that did not exist previously. For example, novel industries such as smartphones have a significant demand for quality app programmers and mobile marketing employees.
In conclusion, while there are justifications of contribution of technology to job losses, it also creates new opportunities in the work environment.