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Automation
Recessions and pandemics accelerate automation. Yet warnings of a jobless future are overblown
Special report
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HE COFFEESHOP is an engine of social mobility. Barista jobs require soft skills and little experience, making them a first port of call for young people and immigrants looking for work. So it may be worrying that robotic baristas are spreading.
RC Coffee, which bills itself “Canada’s first robotic café”, opened in Toronto last summer. “[T]he barista-to-customer interaction is somewhat risky despite people’s best efforts to maintain a safe environment,” the firm says. When this correspondent visited in January, a gaggle of people stood by, trying to make it work.
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Thousands of companies that are part of large corporate groups with deep pockets have tapped into the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program, demonstrating that the coronavirus aid program is poorly targeted and has spent billions of dollars unnecessarily, says an analysis of recipient data.
The federal government has pointed to the CEWS program as a keystone in its effort to buoy employment during the pandemic, saying it preserves the connections between workers and their employers, and minimizes economic disruption.