abstract: 'Will the internet, robotics and artificial intelligence mean a `jobless

  future''? A recent narrative, endorsed by tech-billionaires, says we face

  mass unemployment, and we need a basic income. In contrast, this article

  shows why the law can achieve full employment with fair incomes, and

  holidays with pay. Universal human rights, including the right to `share

  in scientific advancement and its benefits'', set the proper guiding

  principles. Three distinct views of the causes of unemployment are that

  it is a `natural'' phenomenon, that technology may propel it, or that it

  is social and legal choice: to let capital owners restrict investment in

  jobs. Only the third view has any credible evidence to support it.

  Technology may create redundancies, but unemployment is a purely social

  phenomenon. After World War Two, 42\% of UK jobs were redundant but

  social policy maintained full employment. This said, transition to new

  technology, when markets are left alone, can be exceedingly slow: a

  staggering 88\% of American horses lost their jobs after the Model T

  Ford, but only over 45 years. Both the global financial crisis from 2008

  and the COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 illustrate the importance of social

  and legal policy, and suggest it is time to learn. Taking lessons from

  history, it is clear that unemployment is driven by inequality of wealth

  and of votes in the economy. To uphold human rights, governments should

  reprogramme the law, for full employment, fair incomes and more leisure,

  on a living planet. Robot owners will not automate your job away, if we

  defend economic democracy.'
affiliation: 'McGaughey, E (Corresponding Author), Kings Coll London, Law, London,
  England.

  McGaughey, E (Corresponding Author), Univ Cambridge, Ctr Business Res, Cambridge,
  England.

  McGaughey, Ewan, Kings Coll London, Law, London, England.

  McGaughey, Ewan, Univ Cambridge, Ctr Business Res, Cambridge, England.'
author: McGaughey, Ewan
author-email: ewan.mcgaughey@kcl.ac.uk
author_list:
- family: McGaughey
  given: Ewan
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1093/indlaw/dwab010
earlyaccessdate: JUL 2021
eissn: 1464-3669
files: []
issn: 0305-9332
journal: INDUSTRIAL LAW JOURNAL
keywords-plus: 'UNITED-KINGDOM; NATURAL RATE; LABOR-LAW; UNEMPLOYMENT; PROPERTY;

  BRITAIN; HISTORY; GOVERNANCE; INFLATION; DEMAND'
language: English
month: NOV 20
number: '3'
number-of-cited-references: '257'
pages: 511-559
papis_id: b0d332865c2612557e5febea7edffdc6
ref: Mcgaughey2022willrobots
times-cited: '0'
title: Will Robots Automate Your Job Away? Full Employment, Basic Income and Economic
  Democracy
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000756426700001
usage-count-last-180-days: '8'
usage-count-since-2013: '28'
volume: '51'
web-of-science-categories: Industrial Relations \& Labor; Law
year: '2022'