Abstract

The article discusses ways in which automation has affected manpower utilization in distribution agencies in San Francisco Bay Area, California. Automation and other forms of technological change are creating problems for many institutions today. Unemployment has been persistently high in the United States since 1957 (despite the recent drop in the first half of 1965) and economic growth has been disappointing. Many individuals and organizations have faced serious difficulties with displacement and new job requirements imposed by technological changes. In California and elsewhere, jobs have been lost or changed because of farm mechanization, factory automation and office computerization. While such displacement has affected persons at all age, experience, skill and educational levels, it appears to have had its most serious effects among less skilled persons with low educational backgrounds and to be more concentrated among relatively younger and older members of the labor force. Because of the speed and in some cases the severity of change, the policies and programs of businesses and trade unions, as well as government agencies, require re-examination.