Great Panic (Semper Idem)

The Great Panic was a time of worldwide economic downturn and social change caused by the Great Automation from the 2020s to the 2030s. While automation did result in a more efficient and productive workforce, the negative effects of a giant unemployed workforce quickly outweighed those benefits. GDP and economic growth slowed down dramatically worldwide, especially in the Atlantic countries. In some places, unemployment skyrocketed, and anti-automation sentiment become a popular political rhetoric.

In China, a Basic Services system was implemented in place to ensure citizens had access to basic services such as food and water even if they were unemployed, effectively an upgrade from the previous welfare system. Certain countries, however, prepared little for the inevitable automation of the service sector, such as the European Union and the United States.

In the United States, private companies seized upon this opportunity by introducing career schools throughout the nation, where workers layed off due to automation could learn new skills required for newer jobs. This venture was ultimately sponsored by the Department of Commerce and several state governments, and career schools would grow to become a billion dollar industry, spreading to Canada and Europe. Career schools would fall into obscurity by the 2040s, as new careers would quickly be automated, making the idea of career schools useless. Eventually, the federal government outlawed certain types of automation to allow the economy to recover and the unemployment rate to fall back, allowing the U.S to recover from the Great Panic.

India was the worst nation to suffer because of the Great Panic, as the majority of its workforce were employed in cheap service or manufacturing jobs, which would be easily be replaced by automation. With such a large country, the nation nearly fell into disarray, but slowly recovered by the 2040s, even earning its rank as a developed country by that time.