I just read a report in the MIT Technology Review about how technology is destroying jobs. There is bit of a debate about this so I encourage you to read the report. Click here.

I worry about some of the people in the workforce who are stuck in the Mad Men era. They function in a time warp. Many of them are about to get a rude awakening. It is just a matter of time. Technology is replacing many jobs at every level imaginable. Americans need to prepare.

Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and Andrew McAfee, associate director of the MIT Center for Digital Business at the Sloan School of Management, published a study that says there is a dismal future for many types of jobs in manufacturing, clerical, retail, law, financial services, education, and medicine.

They claim “advances in computer technology, from improved industrial robotics to automated translation services, are largely behind the sluggish employment growth of the last 10 to 15 years. People are losing their jobs.”

Brynjolfsson and McAfee still believe that technology could leave the typical worker worse off than before. “People are falling behind because technology is advancing so fast and our skills and organizations aren’t keeping up.”

They point out that technologies like the Web, artificial intelligence, big data, and improved analytics, all made possible by the ever increasing availability of cheap computing power and storage capacity, are automating many routine tasks.

Other MIT academics debate them. No one knows for sure, but be forewarned.