New Inventions During World War II

Introduction

Fears within the job market are typical, being forced to learn new skills, possibly being pushed out of a current position, and worrying about the economic state of the company. Employees worry about job security in an ever growing expansion of automation. The addition and reinvention of new machines, and the quick rate at which they are learning, are rapidly becoming an integral part of the labor market. During World War II, there was a boom in the invention of new automation for war time use, which led to more jobs in the United States. New inventions change the job skills needed for jobs and the way jobs work both in the past and the present. The development has changed the way the job market functions. The change of the job

Throughout the years, there have been sudden occurrences where new technology is developed, leaving workers in the dust. An automation boom in the mid 20th century created the ability to keep up with public demand on goods. The downfall for this was the spike in unemployment, where “Through the late 1950s and early 1960s... an “automation hysteria” gripped the nation and generated fears of mass unemployment. Yet despite such widespread fears and anxieties, these were boom years... and production soared to record levels” (Meyer). Although much of the population was fearful about the rise of new automaton, the business boomed with large profits from buyers. The advancement of machinery left many unemployed, wondering what job will be taken over next, if there will even be any jobs left. Throughout the years, factories have been depending more on machinery than on humans, providing fewer jobs within larger cities with industries involved in these tactics. For example, “In the United States and China... fewer people work in manufacturing today than in 1997… Modern automotive plants… use machines that autonomously weld and paint body parts- tasks that were once handled by humans”(Rotman). Labor workers, in many situations, were forced to either find another position in the company or they were fired due to the repositioning of jobs. This frightened many about the direction the labor market was

Jobs where automation and machine learning have been implemented tend to see a spike in productivity levels. David Rotman, of MIT, claims that over the past few years “Productivity is at record levels, innovation has never been faster, and yet, at the same time, we have a falling median income and we have fewer jobs” (Rotman). Albeit that there has been job loss, the efficiency of machines has enabled businesses to keep up with demand better than it has in years. This has created a better economy, especially within larger companies. During the automation craze in the automobile industry during the 1950s and 1960s, the work rate increased dramatically and demand was able to be met. These companies used “...modern machine tools that could cut metal faster than workers could load and unload the machines. Consequently, the use of automated methods offered “important gains...in respect to the number of pieces that can be produced hourly and in savings of directed labour”” (Meyer). Though machines were, and still are, a large investment, it was thought that there would be a great enough profit in the long run. Investments and saving money continues to be one of the main priorities in businesses, and using machines meant there were fewer people to pay an hourly wage or a salary. Efficiency levels have met a peak in history during the past few years, and this is largely due to automation and