Since the 1950s, just one profession out of 270 has disappeared due to automation
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Out of the 270 jobs listed in the 1950 US census, elevator operator is the only one that’s been eliminated due to automation.
Published | Photo by Reuters/Ina Fassbender
Other jobs on the list have disappeared, but not because of automation.
According to economist James Bessen, jobs like boarding-house keepers and telegraph operators don’t exist anymore for reasons other than automation, but because of lack of demand and the death of outdated technologies.
What happened to the occupations listed in the 1950 US Census?
Job loss from automation is usually partial.
So instead of eliminating human workers, machines work along them, taking on just some of their tasks.
Reuters/Jon Nazca
What’s more, automation can even increase jobs.
Since the 1990s, some bank tellers lost their jobs due to ATMs. But then banks used the money they saved to open new branches, which increased the number of available jobs.
ATMs and bank tellers in the US
