Although the thought may seem futuristic, the reality is that robots and automated processes will be taking over human jobs. As the unemployment rate goes up, there is a direct negative impact on housing. What's the best way to prepare?
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has a surprisingly naive take on the issue of AI and robots replacing human jobs.
Mnuchin said that human obsolescence is “not even on our radar screen… 50-100 more years away” — and that he’s “not worried at all.” For those of us in the tech industry, it’s clear his timescale is inaccurate and that, if the government is complacent about AI, the country is setting itself up for an economic shock.
There’s been downward pressure on jobs since the Industrial Revolution due to leaps in productivity brought about by human ingenuity and lucky discoveries. This has accelerated since the 1980s with the mass adoption of computers, but the market has more or less kept up, creating new openings to fill the eradicated ones, albeit not in the same places (coastal cities have gained, Rust Belt areas have lost out).
However, we have a tsunami on the horizon: automation using AI. It will place intense downward pressure on employment, and threatens to catch a generation (really, three generations) off guard, with unemployment levels higher than the Great Depression.
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