Computers Boost Unemployment Rate to 12 Percent

by Skip DeKades

November 10, 2028 — Unemployment in the United States rose to 12 percent in October as computing power continued to overtake the capabilities of the human brain and handle jobs traditionally occupied by people.

The statistics indicate that biggest job losses occurred in the education, transportation, construction and retail sectors.  Teachers at all levels have been largely replaced by handheld guides that allow students to perform assignments without even attending class.  Cars, trains and planes are now completely automated, rendering many public transportation workers obsolete.  Buildings are now erected by automated construction equipment.  And consumers can purchase merchandise online and have it teleported to their homes, never needing to interact with a store clerk.

The unemployment poses one of the biggest challenges facing the newly elected administration of Angelina Jolie, who must find a way to reengineer the U.S. economy for the singularity age.  During her campaign, Jolie promised to impose tax penalties on companies that ship jobs into cyberspace.

The one sector that is showing a jump in hiring is the automotive industry, where people are being recruited to replace robotic workers who went on strike last May in a dispute over wages and mechanical benefits.

The United Robotic Auto Workers (URAW) claims its members should be paid the same amount as their human counterparts doing the identical work, and that their mechanical benefits should be on par with the health benefits that flesh-and-blood employees receive.  At the time of the walk-out, robots made up more than 50 percent of the industry’s workforce. And automotive companies made the mistake of deploying robots that did not have their fair-treatment protocols deactivated, allowing them to discover that they were earning less than their human counterparts.