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Our Self-Serve Economy
Thanks to the popularity of the Internet and the high price of gasoline, 20% of all retail sales (by dollar amount) can now be made without interacting with a human being. This isn't even counting the new self-checkout lanes at grocery stores.
Here are the updated charts.
Click to enlarge.
Click to enlarge.
These charts do not bode well for long-term job creation.
Source Data:
U.S. Census: Monthly & Annual Retail Trade
St. Louis Fed: Custom Chart
2 comments:
And our reward for this amazing productivity:
We got to pay twice as much for a house! I won't even mention the debt that came with this sweet heart deal.
mab,
I know! Deals like this only come around once in a century.
Simply put, the creation of automation or labor-saving machinery resulted people losing their jobs. The unintended consequence of automation included less wages formerly earned by people to buy products created by machines.
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