Tesla Rolls Out Mobile Megapack Chargers for Holidays Across the US, Find Out the Locations Here 
Nintendo Switch 2 Dock Leak Hints at Faster Performance but 4K Output Reportedly Capped at 30 FPS 
Apple Nears $4 Trillion Valuation as AI Momentum Fuels Investor Optimism 
BYD Factory in Brazil Faces Investigation as Chinese Workers Found in 'Slavery-like Conditions' 
Musk’s X Raises Premium-Plus Plan to $22 With Creator Payouts and AI Features in Focus 
Nintendo Switch 2 Reveal Rumors Explode as Countdown Ending January 8 Fuels New Leaks 
Toyota Targets BYD and Chinese Rivals with Shanghai EV Factory for Lexus Production by 2027 
An AI system has reached human level on a test for ‘general intelligence’. Here’s what that means 
US Treasury Reveals EV Charger Tax Credit Details Find Out If Your Property Qualifies Now 
Microsoft Steps Back from OpenAI Dependency in 365 Copilot with New AI Models Integration Strategy 
'Drones Plummet onto Crowd' at Orlando Holiday Show, Prompting NTSB Investigation 
China’s Nio Brings Firefly EV to Europe in 2025 to Challenge Mini and Smart 
Tesla Addresses 'Cell Dent' Issues in Cybertruck Batteries, Sends Units Back to Gigafactory Texas 
Trump's 'Tech Dream Team' Appointments Spark Debate Over Administration's Digital Strategy 
Soaring EV Sales Spark Scramble for Lithium and Graphite as 2030 Supply Pinch Looms 
Elon Musk’s xAI Scores $6 Billion with NVIDIA and AMD Driving AI Model and Supercomputer Growth 
OpenAI Heats Up AI Race with o3 Models Aiming to Outperform Google’s Gemini in Complex Problem Solving 
The progressive members of the Democratic party, as well as a considerable number of American workers, have been pushing for the increase in the minimum wage in every state for almost a decade now. However, while doing so could result in workers getting a living wage, a new government study reveals that it could also result in more job loss due to automation.
The study in question was done by researchers at the US National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and it is titled “People Versus Machines: The Impact of Minimum Wages on Automatable Jobs”. According to the data that the researchers gathered, which included employment numbers from the 80s until 2015, a direct correlation was found between minimum wage increases and replacement by machines.
“Based on CPS data from 1980-2015, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases significantly the share of automatable employment held by low-skilled workers, and increases the likelihood that low-skilled workers in automatable jobs become unemployed,” the paper reads. “The average effects mask significant heterogeneity by industry and demographic group, including substantive adverse effects for older, low-skilled workers in manufacturing. The findings imply that groups often ignored in the minimum wage literature are in fact quite vulnerable to employment changes and job loss because of automation following a minimum wage increase.”
The main people behind the study are London School of Economics’ Grace Lordan and University of California, Irvine’s David Neumark. Their conclusion is that “low-skilled” workers are at risk of losing their livelihood with a wage increase simply because their jobs could be replaced by automation.
This makes a lot of sense when seen from an employer’s point of view. After all, as Futurism points out, if it costs more to keep human workers than to simply have machines do the job, companies will choose the cheaper option every time. What’s more, machines have huge advantages over human workers in the form of unlimited work time, no vacation or sick days, and no unions.
