§ 1. Mr. Brooksasked the Minister of Labour what forecast he has made of the likely impact of computerisation upon the demand for labour in the various sectors of manufacturing and service industry in the next 10 years; and what plans he has to combat the prospect of technological unemployment in the foreseeable future.
§ Mr. GunterA study of the impact of computerisation in offices was published by my Department's Manpower Research Unit in 1965. This showed that the likely effect of computers in the next 10 years will be to offer some relief from a growing shortage of office manpower.
My Department is studying the problems of forecasting the likely demands for labour over the whole economy in the next 5 and 10 years, taking account of all foreseeable technological changes, of which computerisation is only one. Training and retraining policies will be framed and adjusted in the light of these forecasts.