I want to avoid using the term solution, not least of all because implementation has its own set of challenges, but we used to dream that automation would replace those jobs. Perhaps naively, we assumed that people just wouldn’t have to work as much. And perhaps I continue to be naive in thinking that that should still be our end goal. If automation reduces the required work hours by 20% with no reduction in profit, full time workers should have a 32 hour week with no reduction in income.

But since employers will always pocket that money if given the option, we need more unionization, we need unions to fight for better contracts, we need legislation that will protect and facilitate them, and we need progressive taxation that will decouple workers most essential needs from their employers so they have more of a say in where and how they work, be that universal public services, minimum income guarantee, or what have you.

We’re quite far behind in this fight but there has been some recent progress about which I am pretty optimistic.