Will automation create better new jobs?

As the fourth industrial revolution, characterised by smart factories and digital manufacturing, makes its presence felt globally, there is an upsurge in handwringing about the notion that technology will eliminate human jobs. Labour's deputy leader Tom Watson has even launched a new commission to study the future of work and tackle fears about the rise of the machines. Yet these concerns aren't new; they go back to the first Industrial Revolution some 250 years ago and the Canut revolts in France, as well as the Luddite resistance in Britain. "Nowadays, people who worry about new technologies are often dismissed as living in the past. That would not be fair; such concerns must be addressed seriously," Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, said at a conference recently.