Automation and robots are coming for your job. The World Economic Forum predicts that 5 million jobs will be lost due to technology advances by 2020. McKinsey and Company found out that 30% of tasks in 60% of jobs could be computerized. It is not the first time you have heard this. Advances in technology and their impact on job market is a very popular and up to date topic. Researchers discuss the timeline for jobs disappearing and define which jobs will be gone and why.
In order to quickly summarize on their debate, predictability, routine and simplicity of tasks are the main factors for identifying which jobs will be gone soon. Taxi and truck drivers will be replaced by self-driving cars. Tax consultants that process large amount of data in accordance with law can be replaced by sophisticated systems that will do their job automatically. You can find fewer cashiers in an average grocery store than 10 years ago because barcode scanners are so convenient. There are many examples of different occupancies that should fear automation and digital advances.
What are the key attributes of jobs that will be hard to replace by robots or automated systems? Genuine creativity, social interaction, emotions and unpredictability are some of them. Jobs that require many different skills from one person and their deployment is highly unpredictable seem to be hard to automate. Think of a generalist, a manager for instance, that has to react to many different occurrences and find a unique solution.
It is a given that many jobs will be either highly automated or completely replaced by advanced technologies and systems. On the other hand, it is highly unlikely that we will be able to pass all of our tasks on robots or automated systems and do nothing instead. First, as far as we can see, there will still be human intervention needed to supervise and control the machines. Second, technology is by far not at such an advanced stage that it could do anything. To use a simple example from agriculture, such an easy and repetitive task as picking apples for consumer direct consumption has not been automated yet. The reason for this is not only the cost of such a technology, but also technical feasibility. A robot, that could see the right color, right size and pick the apple without damaging it, at the same cost and pace as humans is still science fiction.
We all know this and I am not telling you something that can surprise you. Nevertheless, there are some questions to ask ourselves. If this is all true, how should I react? What should I study? How can I be sure that my job will not become obsolete? The truth is, you cannot. The world and job market are changing very fast. The main ability of successful people in the future will be adaptability. You need to be able to react, learn new things and continuously disrupt the safe patterns you follow. Nobody can predict the future. We can only analyze, guess, work with probabilities. Being able to adapt does not mean that you will refuse to delve deep into different fields of expertise and just wait. It means to constantly challenge what you do and be ready to accept the changes that are about to come.
Sources:
Kottasova, I., 2016. Technology could kill 5 million jobs by 2020. [Online]
Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/18/news/economy/job-losses-technology-five-million/index.html
[Accessed 15 October 2017].
Mahdawi, A., 2017. What jobs will still be around in 20 years? Read this to prepare your future. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/26/jobs-future-automation-robots-skills-creative-health
[Accessed 15 October 2017].
McKinsey Global Institute, 2017. Harnessing automation for a future that works. [Online]
Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/global-themes/digital-disruption/harnessing-automation-for-a-future-that-works
[Accessed 15 October 2017].
