WASHINGTON, D.C. — Joint Economic Committee Chairman Dan Coats (R-Ind.) chaired a committee hearing entitled “The Transformative Impact of Robots and Automation” on Wednesday. At the hearing, JEC members examined the impact of advancing technology on a global scale and what it means for America’s labor market.

Chairman Coats explained the current direction of the labor market:

“As with the Industrial Revolution, this new robot revolution could be contributing to pressures arising within our changing labor force.  Even before these technological advances, America’s workforce was starting to age and businesses were beginning to rely much more on automated labor than physical labor  Robots are expected to hasten this trend as they fill in for humans in both blue- and white-collar jobs.”

Adam Keiper, a fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center and Editor of The New Atlantis, explained why today’s situation is unique:

Vice Chairman Pat Tiberi (R-Ohio) described a real-life example of how and why technology is advancing so rapidly:

“Earlier this year, the CEO of a service company told me because of what he believed was over-regulation by the Obama administration, that some, across industries by the way, were going to use technology sooner than they otherwise would. He gave me an example in the restaurant industry, he knew of my first job was at McDonald’s. … He cited the fact that with the overregulation of employment in France, and he’d been to France, where now you order in many restaurants not with a person but with a tablet. … Then I heard that a major restaurant chain in the United States, just last month citing of overregulation was actually testing this pilot out in the United States.”

Dr. Andrew McAfee, author and scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, described in his written testimony what he believes are the implications of our changing economy:

“Many of these innovations are quite new, and have not yet diffused throughout the economy. As they do, they will intensify technology’s already substantial effects on the workforce. In other words, they will benefit some types of workers, and substitute for others. I do not believe the era of mass technological unemployment is right around the corner, or, in other words, that the robots are about to take all of our jobs.”

New considerations regarding the nature of work, training and skill adaptability must be made moving forward. As Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) explained:

“Our schools teach people well and generally follow what some might call a 20^th century model prepare them for what has become a somewhat unique 21^st century workplace. … What happens next? I think it’s possible for what we think of as high skilled jobs today to become tomorrow’s low skilled jobs. In much the same way that the high-skilled welders of yesterday, many of whom have now been replaced at least on assembly lines for automobiles and many other manufactured products. Many of them are now without jobs”

The gavels used in this hearing were printed on 3-D printers in a matter of hours. Committee members thanked the DC Public Library’s Fabrication Laboratory and Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School for providing the gavels.