State populations 2018

[Emprise du Lion]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

I think technology is moving rather quickly and what has taken a long time to get up to today's level of automation will suddenly take off.

RE: cashier-less checkouts
You have one clerk monitoring 8 checkout lines. Net loss of 7 cashiers. It now requires just 1 employee to do the job of 8.

Buying alcohol at the self-checkout lanes is a royal pain in the ass 90% of the time, not to mention how often the machines are typically out of order. I also can't tell you the number of times they've had to get a different supervisor or cashier to check my ID because the person they had monitoring wasn't old enough to ok the alcohol purchase. This typically happens at Target.

You also have people who key in a different code for produce at the store in order to save money, so stores then have even more people watching the self-checkout machines.

I know Jewel here in Chicago removed most, if not all, of their self-checkout lanes due to loss prevention and customer service reasons (meaning people got pissed and wanted someone to bag their stuff for them).

McDonald's - I use their kiosks all the time. They now have 1 cashier. Back in the day, they would have 3 or 4.

See the same issue as above in regards to machines frequently being down. Before it was always their McFlurry machine, and now its the kiosk. They also are useless for the drive-thru.

Airlines - kiosks and apps. Remember in the 90s and 2000s how many agents there would be to check you in and how long those lines would take?

There's definitely a decline here, but many airlines make you speak with an actual rep when checking your bag, even if they made you use the kiosk first to check in (looking at you, Delta).

Banks. My local bank is a relic from the 1960s or 70s. It's a really cool building and it's empty. It's like a museum. I need to count how many teller booths there are next time I'm there, but it's around 12-15. Today, there is 1 teller and 1 manager. That's it.

This makes sense with banks, and yet they continue to spring up like weeds, tellers and all. A lot of people prefer merely using an ATM, but when it comes to loans and other issues, a lot of people prefer the face to face experience with an employee. I also have frankly never walked into a bank anywhere that had only two employees.

In short though, I think automation will definitely kill jobs, but I also think that people overestimate the number of people who are willing to deal with a machine they can't figure out versus a real person who will do everything for them.

It's like when people complain about having to navigate ridiculous phone systems before they can ever speak to a living person. Now certain companies hype up their customer service based on how quickly you speak to live person, who is based in your home country no less. We'll probably see something like that as automation increases.

[C.]

Automation will kill jobs, but with the productivity increases will be many new jobs for a new economy.

Unemployment is at 3.9%, beyond what many economist consider full employment. There is a need for much more immigrants, especially since many boomers are retiring. I can see nursing and the medical field soar with new technologies to treat illnesses and as boomers cash in their retirement savings to pay for health bills in their golden years.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Sun Belt

Produce is time consuming when self checking out. You have to look up 4 digit codes. Also you can't buy alcohol at self checkouts in Calif.

I was at a grocery store 30 minutes ago and avoided the self checkout because I had produce.

[kcexpress69]

I'd prefer not to use the self checkout lines unless I have no other choice. And the kiosks at McDonalds drive me up the wall. It takes me 3 or 4 times as long for me to sit there and hit that screen 20 times, than it does for me to just tell an employee what I want, and pay for my order!!

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by kcexpress69

I'd prefer not to use the self checkout lines unless I have no other choice. And the kiosks at McDonalds drive me up the wall. It takes me 3 or 4 times as long for me to sit there and hit that screen 20 times, than it does for me to just tell an employee what I want, and pay for my order!!

I like the human interaction as well, however there's always a long line now because they've eliminated cashier jobs. I've been steered over to the kiosks because of the long lines created by McDonalds Corp.

There's no need to employ 4 people to punch a screen for you because most people don't pay with cash anymore. Heck I remember when fast food only accepted cash. There is no need for a "cashier" and this trend will continue. I pay with my phone at places that can accept it, which has been increasing.

Now the cashier at the grocery store is still needed because of the way they price their produce. If they were to be prepackage with a bar code slap on the package then self checkout would be a breeze.

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by kcexpress69

Well, just to clarify, I was comparing the 2010 results directly to the latest estimates that I could find, which was 2017. I didn't do a year to year comparison. So if there was a rise and fall between that time, I didn't check.

I agree with this. I use the same measurements for population growth for two reasons.
#1 Comparing to the 2010 Census figures anchors the data with an official decennial census is more reliable than comparing a census estimate with a census estimate which are not as accurate.
#2 It allows for the examination of more long term population trends than just year to year and in general makes the discussion more academic and less sensationalist as opposed to the more tabloid journalism out there that often results in chicken little syndrome, i.e. "Illinois (or insert state) lost more people than any state last year, OMG the end is near!"

[Chicago103]

Originally Posted by lio45

I've always felt that the more hick-ish areas of high-cost, high-regulation states like NY and CA were in a "worst of both worlds" position, in terms of business appeal (which has a real impact on the economy).

The same is true of downstate Illinois. When conservatives or whomever talk about Illinois being a bad place to live and one should move to Indiana or Wisconsin or Missouri or some other state are kind of operating under the assumption their audience doesn't want to live in Chicago. There are no cities in those neighboring states that are anything like Chicago, not Milwaukee, not Indianapolis, not St. Louis or Kansas City so those who seek a cosmopolitan lifestyle and all the jobs and economic opportunities it offer will never consider those cities proper substitutes for Chicago. However if you live in Decatur, IL you might as well move to Muncie, Indiana if you think you will get a better state government situation there because your lifestyle won't change that much otherwise. If you live in Rockford, IL maybe moving to Madison, WI makes perfect sense of you. Springfield, IL or Springfield, MO, same thing. Rock Island, IL vs. Davenporn, IA, etc etc.

[goat314]

Originally Posted by Chicago103

The same is true of downstate Illinois. When conservatives or whomever talk about Illinois being a bad place to live and one should move to Indiana or Wisconsin or Missouri or some other state are kind of operating under the assumption their audience doesn't want to live in Chicago. There are no cities in those neighboring states that are anything like Chicago, not Milwaukee, not Indianapolis, not St. Louis or Kansas City so those who seek a cosmopolitan lifestyle and all the jobs and economic opportunities it offer will never consider those cities proper substitutes for Chicago. However if you live in Decatur, IL you might as well move to Muncie, Indiana if you think you will get a better state government situation there because your lifestyle won't change that much otherwise. If you live in Rockford, IL maybe moving to Madison, WI makes perfect sense of you. Springfield, IL or Springfield, MO, same thing. Rock Island, IL vs. Davenporn, IA, etc etc.

You do realize that Chicago gives places like St. Louis and Indianapolis their most transplants right? In St. Louis, a lot of the trendiest neighborhoods are full of Chicagoans and I'm sure that's true of other cities in the region as well. In fact, Chicago sends more people to St. Louis than the other way around.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...=1548247311992

St. Louis is losing out to Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta. Not Los Angeles and NYC. Definitely not Chicago.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by goat314

You do realize that Chicago gives places like St. Louis and Indianapolis their most transplants right? In St. Louis, a lot of the trendiest neighborhoods are full of Chicagoans and I'm sure that's true of other cities in the region as well. In fact, Chicago sends more people to St. Louis than the other way around.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sour...=1548247311992

St. Louis is losing out to Phoenix, Dallas, and Atlanta. Not Los Angeles and NYC. Definitely not Chicago.

That's not surprising TBH, but I'd be curious to see more detailed demographic data on people who move.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by goat314

In fact, Chicago sends more people to St. Louis than the other way around.
.

Well, somebody's gotta follow the sewage...

[Obadno]

Originally Posted by C.

Automation will kill jobs, but with the productivity increases will be many new jobs for a new economy.

Unemployment is at 3.9%, beyond what many economist consider full employment. There is a need for much more immigrants, especially since many boomers are retiring. I can see nursing and the medical field soar with new technologies to treat illnesses and as boomers cash in their retirement savings to pay for health bills in their golden years.

Much like when we first invented machienery, yes the first level job will be destroyed but the amount of jobs generated in the process of automating from design to servicing to financing etc will generate many more jobs overall.

We are a VERY long way from the point where automation literally does everything with little to no human input

And when we are at that point we'll be living in a post-scarcity sci-fi world and our concerns about "jobs" will be irrelevant.