technological unemployment

American  

noun

1. unemployment caused by technological changes or new methods of production in an industry or business.

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technological unemployment Cultural  

1. Unemployment caused by the displacement of workers by machines.

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Etymology

Origin of technological unemployment

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Congress debates AI-related reporting mandates, displacement-monitoring systems and workforce-transition programs built around assumptions of widespread technological unemployment.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026

As social insecurities rise due to widening gaps of inequality, technological unemployment, so too has anxiety, stress and rage.

From Salon • Apr. 28, 2019

The U.K. is already experiencing housing shortages, and jobs such as bricklaying and roofing are predicted to be particularly hard hit by technological unemployment.

From Slate • Aug. 1, 2018

Today’s worry about mass technological unemployment is nothing new and probably won’t come to pass in its scariest imaginable form.

From Washington Post • Jul. 7, 2017

The economist John Maynard Keynes famously cried wolf in 1931, by issuing a warning of widespread "technological unemployment".

From Reuters • Jan. 20, 2016