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Is technology the enemy of employment? It is a fact that computers have substituded for a significant number of jobs. But let us not forget that changes in technologies have first shaken the face of rural economic and social development. Consider Europe which is the world's leading agricultural powerhouse. Over the last decade France has already lost 26% of its farmers and Germany 36%! New technologies such as agricultural machinery and fertilizers have also accelerated this social and economic upheaval. Yet, today famine declined in most regions of the world. In our present society computerisation would be the true explanation for jobless growth. The recent Oxford Martin report provides a very interesting analysis of that phenomenon. According to their estimates around 47% of total US employment - and this report equally applies to a great number of advanced economies - is in the high risk category ! Jobs at risk are these which could be easily and soon automated. And computerisation is no longer confined to low-skill occupations. Health care, legal and financial services are already being computerised. The report stresses that "first, as technology substitutes for labour, there is a destruction effect,requiring workers to reallocate their labour supply; and second, there is the capitalisation effect , as more companies enter industries where productivity is relatively high , leading employment in those industries to expand". But lets keep a positive view on such a phenomenon and find comfort in knowing that the constantly growing number of tasks assigned to the computers will enable the human brain to increase its capacity for creativity for the wellbeing of humankind !

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