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FutureworkNZ blog

BlogA blog by Commission staff

This was set up to generate ideas and promote debate for our Technological change and the future of work inquiry.

We welcome robust, respectful and insightful thoughts and ideas. Please post your comments at the bottom of blog posts. Comments are moderated and won't appear immediately. 

About the blog


The Commission has completed its inquiry into Technological change and the future of work. Thanks to everyone who read and commented on this blog! Read the final inquiry report and recommendations to Government here. 


Zoom meeting

Is this the future of work?

14 April 2020

Like us, most of you will be at home, keeping to your bubbles, isolating from others and maybe worki…

Chameleon

Can Kiwis be better chameleons?

25 February 2020

To succeed in an unpredictable and changing world, adaptability is the key. Let’s be chameleons. Tec…

Decisions

Decisions, decisions…

5 February 2020

In my last post, I talked about how the rough and tumble of reallocation led to productivity growth,…

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon platform fire

Debunking fallacies – couldn’t say it better myself

30 January 2020

Our technological change and the future of work inquiry has turned the hose on some burning platform…

Post

Will there still be Santa?

20 December 2019

I’ve got some bad news about Santa Claus. The North Pole may be far, but it’s not too far to avoid t…

jobs

From sewing machinist to software programmer

16 December 2019

I’m sure you’ve heard some version of this popular prediction – about two-thirds of children enterin…

Tiny home

Is NZ short of equity capital?

11 December 2019

Low business investment is a problem for tech adoption.  Interest rates don’t provide a convincing e…

Tractor

Why aren’t NZ businesses investing?

9 December 2019

Crazily low interest rates but NZ businesses are not investing. Why not?

It’s an important question…

Carl Benedikt Frey

Into the Frey

14 October 2019

If you’ve read anything about technological change and the future of work – or even if you’ve just G…

Tech and productivity over time

New Zealand, technology and productivity

12 September 2019

The first of the Productivity Commission’s reports on technological change and the future of work is…

Sheep

Shocks to the system

11 September 2019

As a small country that’s far away from most of the world, it’s not surprising that many have worrie…

Bolt and Nut Australia

The nuts and bolts of automation

9 September 2019

Many, many things affect whether a firm will adopt a technology, and whether this adoption will be s…

Digital skills

Making digital inclusion ‘go viral’

5 September 2019

Can you ‘infect’ someone with digital skills? It may sound like an odd question but let me explain…

Digital inclusion

Digital inclusion: What do we know from people who don’t use…

4 September 2019

Forty-five percent of people who don’t use the internet say they have no interest in the internet or…

1932 image

We have better metrics than the labour income share. Let’s u…

28 August 2019

A decline in the labour income share (LIS) is not definitive evidence of capital replacing human lab…

Aviation

From Richard Pearse to the koru club

26 August 2019

There’s a long lag between invention and any labour market effects from the mass adoption of technol…

Seed cleaner

Why hang on to old tech?

21 August 2019

As the opening chords of Country Calendar play, feel-good nostalgia for rural New Zealand washes ove…

Miford Sound by Dave Heatley

Why do the Danes like tech?

31 July 2019

Denmark is a lot like us. A small country and with an open economy and lots of fiords and sounds.

Pick a path

Pick a path

13 June 2019

Technology is an irresistible force, emerging from inventors and relentlessly changing the nature of…

Dave Heatley

The mothers of invention

10 June 2019

Necessity is the mother of invention if camping without tent pegs, according to Kinley Salmon in his…

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