Vice President, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia has refuted claims by a section of the public that automation and digitalisation will create an undesirable era of joblessness where robots will replace manpower demands of industry. Conservatives have, over the years, argued that advancement in technology and widespread deployment of robots would put a chunk of the youthful working population out of work. But speaking at the inauguration of Academic City University College in Accra Wednesday, Dr. Bawumia said studies have shown that that argument is unfounded. He argued that rather, a highly digitalised establishment with high use of robots and other digital technology increased staff numbers compared to institutions with limited digitalisation. According to him, advancement in every civilized society according to the vice president will largely rely on advancement in Artificial intelligence and ICT.

Over the last few months it has become trendy to jump on the neo-Luddite bandwagon and bemoan how machines are taking our jobs, and as automation gathers pace, they will take our jobs in never before seen numbers. It's led to a renewed emphasis on policies such as the Universal Basic Income. I'm inclined to think that much of this is simply bandwagon jumping, and have argued in the past that the notion that the current revolution is somehow different to all of those in the past is not born out by the evidence, whilst at the same time admitting that governments are largely failing to do the kind of things required to support citizens in their attempts to adapt. A recent paper provides a further element of evidence to add to the discussion. It looks at the role technology plays in economic recoveries, both in terms of economic growth and the number of jobs. The paper reveals that whilst economic recoveries in previous decades would usually involve average increases in employment of around 5% per year, this has slowed significantly since the 90s.