How Does Technology Affect The Economy

Since the beginning of the age of technology, there has been fear that robots or computer based technology would take over the world. In the past decade alone the advancement in technology has grown and effected the economy tremendously. A typical question among the masses is “will my job be obsolete in a few years?”. Within the last few years technology has replaced cashiers and even truck drivers. In the year 2011 McDonalds replaced cashiers in 7,000 European stores with automated computers so people could take their own orders. What will happen to the minimum wage workers who made a living cashing out customers? On the opposite side of the coin, the multibillion dollar company google announced they had engineered a car that could drive itself. Would this self driven car replace the millions of truck drivers who make middle-class wages off of driving trucks? Will this force people to live off of welfare and other government assistance? Technology has and will continue to impact unemployment in the many years to come. So what really is the overall impact of technology on the economy?
One impact to the economy is, the substantial job loses to machines and computers that can accomplish the job faster and more efficient. Millions of …show more content…
There is a large number of Americans living off of welfare because they can’t find jobs and they still have families to support. With many people discouraged from job loss and not being able to find another job many people are forced to live off of government money. These programs have grown to sizes that were never intended and have hurt the economy. The programs are drawing more money out than they have coming in which leads to more debt in the economy. Having 35.4% of people on welfare in the united states in 2012, that means one in every three people you know were living off of government