If jobs are “lost” because robots are doing more work, why is it a problem that the population is aging and there are fewer in “working age”? Shouldn’t the two effects sort of cancel each other out?

Question

If jobs are “lost” because robots are doing more work, why is it a problem that the population is aging and there are fewer in “working age”? Shouldn’t the two effects sort of cancel each other out?

In: 13038

Answer 1

The earnings from automation go into the pockets of companies, not into the pockets of the government. So the government has to fund the old population and also the newly unenmployed workers who lost their jobs due to automation.

So automation is problematic if the positive productivity gains aren’t distributed to the whole society.