Work shirk

Jeremy Rifkin's forthcoming book, The End of Work, is an effort to find an answer to the question of persistent growing unemployment in the developed countries, despite growing productivity and output. The reason, according to Rifkin, lies squarely at the doors of technological development such as computerisation, automation and biotechnology. Studies quoted by him foresee that in the US, 90 million jobs out of the total 124 million workforce can be replaced by machines. According to Rifkin, "Hundreds of millions of people working in the manufacturing services and agricultural sector could be displaced and this will result in social upheaval."