We’re set for some massive jobs and skills displacement over the coming years, thanks to the adoption
of various technologies, particularly AI and automation.
The World Economic Forum runs extensive research across the changing job requirements and skills
demands of employers in order to determine where some of the major shifts will be.
In 2020, they predict that 85 million jobs may be displaced by massive shifts in how labour is divided
between humans and machines by 2025.
But it’s not all doom and gloom.
Many of the jobs in this list will also become redefined as opposed to totally eradicated, with skills that
can be transferable to other roles. Flexibility and a willingness to change careers will be an important
attribute in the future job market.
If you want to be totally bulletproof from the claws of progression, though, author and futurist Martin
Ford recommends pursuing a career in industries that require creative and interpersonal skills, such as
art, science, business and medicine. So far, computers cannot replicate true human inspiration and
intellect, so these occupations seem safe (for now)!
Transcript
PowerPoint PresentationYears Overview We’re set for some massive jobs and skills displacement over the coming years, thanks to the adoption of various technologies, particularly AI and automation. The World Economic Forum runs extensive research across the changing job requirements and skills demands of employers in order to determine where some of the major shifts will be. In 2020, they predict that 85 million jobs may be displaced by massive shifts in how labour is divided between humans and machines by 2025. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Travel agent comparison websites, anybody can arrange their own holiday. All you need is your bank card and a few spare hours to research your destination, with the likes of Skyscanner, Trivago and Opodo tailoring flight and hotel searches to your exact price and date range. Many travel operators have realised this and are closing down branches to focus on their online offers. in the wider travel industry, though. Cashier advances in contactless payments, Apple Pay and even cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin becoming prominent within mainstream society. While not everyone is on board, with some preferring to still use cash to better track their spending, one thing is for sure: the requirement for people to handle the payments is no more. With self- service tills and stations already a common site in supermarket chains and even fast food restaurants like McDonald’s, the demise of the cashier seems inevitable. Fast food cook lower cost, automation could be imminent in the future. Indeed, according to a 2013 study, fast food workers face an 81% chance of automation. employers begin to use current technologies to speed up processes and minimise operational costs. While there will still be the need for couriers to deliver parcels, things don’t look good for the traditional mail carriers delivering letters. This is mainly because the things that they deliver won’t exist in the next 20 years, with bills and statements being viewed and paid online, junk mail moving from your letterbox to your email inbox, and the writing of letters long since a dying art. Despite this, companies still frustratingly ask you for a utility bill as proof of address, even though most utility companies abandoned paper statements long ago! Bank teller local branches will. This is due to the convenience and user-friendly nature of online and telephone banking, where you can make transactions and manage your account with ease – and all from the comfort of your own home. People will still need to consult with financial advisors and experts, so banks will remain open; there will just be a lot less of them. Textile worker textile industry isn’t due to the lack of demand for products, but rather how they’re made. With machines now able to perform a lot of the manufacturing and production work, there are fewer opportunities for textile workers. On the upside, the move towards semi- automation means that highly skilled specialist operators will be required, albeit in smaller numbers. other ride-share drivers technology to drive and apps to identify who needs to be picked up and dropped off. Payment will be made with a simple credit-card swipe (as it often is today), and there will be no one holding onto a steering wheel who needs to be tipped. pressure to introduce more technology into the game, with goal-line technology now a standard and the video assistant referee (VAR) system being utilised in top European leagues. This follows the example of other sports such as tennis, cricket and rugby, which have long since been using technology to make real-time decisions during a match. Retail jeweller inclined to invest in expensive jewellery, which is bad news for the industry. Considering that current generations have less disposable income, diamonds may not be on top of their priority list. support smaller businesses with ethical and sustainable practices rather than established luxury brands. Therefore, this could signal the downfall of high-end jewellery brands as millennial consumers shift their focus elsewhere. Telemarketer course) will actually be pleased about this one, or at least they would be if the annoying, unwanted sales calls weren’t being replaced with even more annoying automated sales calls. this new approach that negates hiring costs and can engage potential customers at any time of the day or night. Legal secretary include roles such as legal secretaries. Further than that, a recent Deloitte report suggests that over 114,000 legal jobs could be automated in the next two decades as the industry begins to adopt new technologies such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence. For legal secretaries, this technological disruption could reduce the number of roles available within the sector significantly, as robotisation and digitalisation take over their main tasks. industries. decline by 2028, resulting in the loss of some 203,300 jobs. Deep-sea divers exploring, researching, and providing manual treatments on the ocean floors. This work can be dangerous and takes a high level of skill to do well. Increasingly, this area of labor and expertise is leaning on the effort of robots and drones Librarians but also about changing lifestyles. Books are relatively cheap, plus people tend to use more and more electronic readers or audiobooks these days. Not to mention that people read less in general. Don’t you worry—the libraries won’t just disappear overnight with books burnt in a bonfire, but the rental system will most likely become an online solution. Translators It’s not that we will suddenly learn how to speak different languages. It’s that the machines will do it for us. Online translators are now able to listen to and translate a conversation on the spot, read it out loud, and swap between dozens of language options. Soon, a human factor here will no longer be needed. Warehouse workers warehousing people filling orders for online sites like Amazon. Jeff Bezos has said multiple times in interviews that he would love to keep the warehouses completely automatic. They are developing robots that could easily fill those positions, and they could work 24/7, unlike their human counterparts. Elon Musk is another one who has been very open about this. He knows that robots get complicated with simple tasks, so his warehouses will never be 100 percent human-free, but the type of job will be very different than it is today. Payroll-department employees The advancement of payroll systems like Gusto has made a significant impact on the demand for these positions. Gusto recently received a $3.8 billion valuation, and while exact numbers aren’t made public, they recently passed 100,000 paying businesses. Pricing analysts The AI will have machine learning so that it can figure out the costs of our products and the market trends. Right now, we have pricing analysts doing this job manually with Excel sheets. The turnover is extremely high for these positions. automotive industry, and this is just the beginning. The industry as a whole is moving toward all-electric and self-driving vehicles. Mechanics are going to be more like computer scientists. It’ll be more like working on a computer than working on a car. Air-traffic controllers impact on the job market, but we think where it will hit the hardest are in industries or specific roles where the risk of human error is not only greater, but the consequences from said errors have a more catastrophic impact. People assume we're talking about air-traffic controllers and things like that. However, there are still technological constraints that will enable humans to keep that type of role. Commercial painters For the past five years, we’ve had a hard time finding any apprentices or youthful people interested in painting. Our workforce has been getting older, and our competitors are experiencing the same problems. One contribution to this is a lack of interest in commercial painting. But another contribution is maintenance-free surfaces. New technologies in material sciences are creating walls, ceilings, and floors that don’t require any coatings. So not only is there less interest from younger people to become commercial painters, but there is also less demand due to these new materials being used to construct new buildings. Conclusion Many of the jobs in this list will also become redefined as opposed to totally eradicated, with skills that can be transferable to other roles. Flexibility and a willingness to change careers will be an important attribute in the future job market. If you want to be totally bulletproof from the claws of progression, though, author and futurist Martin Ford recommends pursuing a career in industries that require creative and interpersonal skills, such as art, science, business and medicine. So far, computers cannot replicate true human inspiration and intellect, so these occupations seem safe (for now)!