Professor of Management, Yannis Georgellis, from the Kent Business School comments on the latest employment figures from the ONS.
‘These numbers suggest that both the demand and supply of labour decreased. There could be several factors that could have contributed to the lower demand for workers, including a slowdown in hiring because of Brexit negotiations uncertainty or because companies needing fewer workers due productivity gains.
‘On the labour supply side, it is possible that fewer workers are looking for jobs because many decided to retire early, to stay home, or because immigrants stopped coming into the country. But unless we drill into the details behind these numbers we cannot tell with certainty which one of these factors is mostly responsible for the shrinking workforce.
‘But in my view, the bigger question is whether these numbers represent a temporary blip in the employment statistics or whether they are an early sign of a longer term trend of things to come. What worries me the most is whether a smaller workforce is a warning sign that automation and artificial intelligence (robots, drones, 3D printers and holograms) are already here to produce the things we need to produce with fewer workers.
‘The implications of having a small workforce supporting the majority of the population will be massive, as we’ll have to rethink our taxation, benefit, and social support systems. I would certainly await anxiously the future releases of employment data for spotting any signs of a more consistent trend for the future of work in a brave, new AI world.’
Colleagues who would like to engage with the media or learn more about media training or the University in the news should contact the Press Office on 3985 or pressoffice@kent.ac.uk