Bloomberg View reporter Noah Smith spotlights the research of Prof. David Autor, who has been “pioneering ways to make the economics discipline both more credible and more relevant.” To mitigate the impacts of trade, Smith writes that Autor believes the “U.S. government should focus attention on manufacturing industries, and even use industrial policy to bolster the sector.”
In an article for The Wall Street Journal about creating complementary work teams, Stu Woo highlights how Prof. Alex “Sandy” Pentland’s research group is trying to improve workplace relations by gathering data on how people interact. “Simply seeing the data encourages employees to adapt their behavior, such as trying to boost engagement among the more silent members,” Woo explains.
Prof. Thomas Kochan writes for Fortune that the new U.S. Secretary of Labor should support policies that unite the workforce and address issues brought forth during the presidential election. A strategy of investing in and empowering employees, “will generate both good long-term profits and support good wages and careers,” Kochan writes.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Elisabeth Reynolds, executive director of the Industrial Performance Center, suggests that advanced manufacturing could create new job opportunities in the U.S. Reynolds notes that “advanced manufacturing, which combines new information technology with advanced machinery, is reinvigorating manufacturing and creating opportunities in the United States that did not seem feasible just over a decade ago.”
Patrick Gillespie of CNN highlights the work of Professors Daron Acemoglu and David Autor in a piece about how automation is responsible for more job losses than trade. Acemoglu explains that by preventing trade now, “some of that production might come back, but the employment that comes back will not be for people, it will be for robots."
Bruce Gellerman reports for WBUR that during an address at MIT, Sec. of State John Kerry urged action on climate change. “Unless we take the steps necessary to change the course that our planet is on, the impacts that we have already seen will pale in comparison to what we will witness in years to come," Kerry explained.
Boston Globe reporter Jim O’Sullivan writes about a speech Sec. of State John Kerry delivered at MIT on the perils posed by climate change. “If we don’t go far enough fast enough, the damage we inflict could take centuries to undo — if it can be undone at all. We don’t get a second chance on this one,” Kerry said.
During a speech at MIT on climate change, Sec. of State John Kerry urged researchers to continue developing clean energy technologies, reports Scott Malone for Reuters. Researchers and innovators will create "the technological advances that forever revolutionize the way we power our world," he noted.
Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Visiting Lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger praises MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Competition, a contest that honors companies aimed at improving economic opportunities for all workers. Wladawsky-Berger writes that it’s heartening that MIT is “searching for breakthrough innovations to help improve [the] economic prospects” of workers impacted by advanced technologies.
Prof. Thomas Kochan speaks with Boston Globe reporter Hae Young Yoo about how businesses can engage and invest in their employees while still turning a profit. Kochan notes that “having some voice in how the workplace is shaped creates an environment that motivates and gives employees a real sense that they belong there.”
Erandi Palihakkara writes for The Huffington Post about the MIT Inclusive Innovation Competition (IIC), which honored companies focused on how technology can help workers across all income levels. “The goal of the IIC is to identify organizations that are harnessing digital innovations to create shared prosperity,” explains Prof. Erik Brynjolfsson.
MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Competition honored companies for innovations aimed at improving economic opportunity, reports Deirdre Fernandes for The Boston Globe. Fernandes writes that the competition was an effort “to highlight partnerships between man and machine and drive more innovation to under-served communities.”
Prof. Thomas Kochan speaks with WBUR reporter Deborah Becker about the contract dispute between Verizon and the company’s employees. Kochan says that in order to avoid these situations in the future, “we need to fundamentally change our labor policy to provide more workers access to a variety of different ways to have a voice at work.”
Bloomberg Business reporter Rebecca Greenfield writes about a new study co-authored by MIT researchers that finds that when workers have control over their schedules they tend to be more satisfied. Prof. Erin Kelly explains that at present employees "worry about if there are career consequences for working in this different way.”
Professor Thomas Kochan writes for Fortune about the latest job’s report from The Bureau of Labor Statistics and argues that the Federal Reserve should set an explicit wage growth target: “Without significant and steady progress on the pay front, the American dream is in peril.”