Lawrie McFarlane: We need safeguards to protect human jobs

A recent study by the McKinsey Global Institute found that at least one-third of workers in most occupations can be replaced by robots. That translates into 800 million lost jobs, worldwide. In the U.S., according to McKinsey, 70 million Americans could become casualties to robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning by the year 2030. The equivalent figure for Canada is about eight million jobs -- in both cases, roughly 30 per cent of the workforce. It might be thought the introduction of such revolutionary technologies would generate enough new employment to make up the difference. But that is not the conclusion of the study.