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The Impact Of Technological Change On Employment Essay

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Macroeconomic - Written Assignment Unit 7 • Definition of structural unemployment: Structural unemployment occurs when employees and employers, for some reason, can 't find each other. For instance new technology may be a cause of structural unemployment. A company may require new technology skills that are not met by the candidates in the area, so sometimes the employer decides to relocate certain jobs somewhere else where people are more qualified. Another example is when technology and automation in production causes loss of jobs as well. Also, a company may decide to move its office or production somewhere else (overseas), where the cost of labor is more convenient. All of these situations generate an increase in the unemployment rate, called structural unemployment. • Impact of technological change on employment The impact on employment occurs because a change in technology immediately affects the demand of skills requirements. For instance, think about a factory that is going to open a sophisticated new automated production area that would produce something automatically from raw materials into finish goods. In this case, the employer will most likely hire a mechanical engineer in order to fill the position. I made this extreme example just to explain that a technological change has always represented a change in the skill demand in business since the industrial revolution. Hence, with the innovation of technology, from hardware to software, employees at all level need

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