In America, more and more productivity is augmented by robotics and machines of all sorts, which is absolutely wonderful for the productivity of producing all types of things, which allows buyers of goods to purchase much more for the dollar than they would be able to without the machines or robotics. On the other hand, wages do have a strong correlation with skill sets, and those who function in an environment in which the machines that they utilize appear to provide the more meaningful "labor" component, are in no position to demand wage hikes or to achieve wages that families basically need and depend upon to live their lives. In particular, machines are very beneficial to the owners of businesses, for the fact that these machines do not go on strike, are operational essentially 24/7, keep companies very competitive, and the machines essentially act as proxies to keep wage demands by laborers quite quiescent.
While there is no doubt, that profits are being made in America by well run companies, the division of the profits and bonuses is becoming more and more skewed and unbalanced each and every quarter, with the lion's share of the salaries, bonuses, stock options, and meaningful benefits going to those of upper management and those that brought to the table the capital needed and utilized by the business, whereas, those that are looked upon as just cogs in the machine, are left further and further behind.
This technological revolution has been a significant contributing factor to the suppression of wages over the last couple of decades in which many businesses are producing products which are either being sold at cheaper price-points while still maintaining their gross margins, and/or are offering more bells and whistles to the consumer of such, with the biggest elephant in the room of exception to this general rule, being the health industry. This seems almost inexplicable, because not only is healthcare incredibly expensive in America vis-à-vis comparable countries, but it would appear to be an area in which this should not be true, because America pretty much has the best of everything, and this includes the tools and accouterments within healthcare. The implication of the above would imply strongly that healthcare, whether because of governmental oversight, governmental interference, industry regulations, industry collusion, lack of transparency, or whatever, appears more to be run essentially as a cartel, something akin to OPEC, rather than a competitive industry.
While overall, the benefits of machines and robotics are rather obvious, those that have had their jobs marginalized and opportunities curtailed, recognize that their life choices are rather limited and their future at best, mediocre, and at worse, rather bleak. The era of machines has its winners, and its losers, and the blue collar laborer is most certainly on the short end of the stick. However, even those that have spent the money, and done their part in getting their advanced degree, are not immune to wage suppression, as the more and more your employment is merely clicking keys and pushing buttons, with correspondingly less and less utilization of one's cognitive thinking along with human processing, then those that think that they are in the white collar workforce will find sooner or later that their collar is inexorably turning blue.