New Telegraph

Report: 85m jobs may be lost to automation in 5 years

SHIFT

A shift in the workspace propelled by the coronavirus pandemic is projected to lead to the loss of jobs while creating new opportunities

 

As the COVID-19 forces organisations to automate their businesses, about 85 million jobs may be lost in the next five years, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has said.

 

According to its 2020 ‘Future of Jobs’ report, employers globally expect that by 2025, increasingly redundant roles will decline from being 15.4 per cent of the workforce to 9 per cent and that emerging professions will grow from 7.8 per cent to 13.5 per cent of the total employee base of company respondents.

 

“Based on these figures, we estimate that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines, and algorithms,” the WEF said in the report. According to the report, the pace of technology adoption is expected to remain unabated and may accelerate in some areas.

 

“The adoption of cloud computing, big data, and e-commerce remain high priorities for business leaders, following a trend established in previous years. However, there has also been a significant rise in interest for encryption, nonhumanoid robots, and artificial intelligence,” it noted.

 

The WEF in the report noted that automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers.

“In addition to the current disruption from the pandemic-induced lockdowns and economic contraction, technological adoption by companies will transform tasks, jobs, and skills by 2025,” it said.

 

“Forty-three per cent of businesses surveyed indicate that they are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, 41 per cent plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work, and 34 per cent plan to expand their workforce due to technology quarintegration.

 

By 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal.

 

A significant share of companies also expects to make changes to locations, their value chains, and the size of their workforce due to factors beyond technology in the next five years.

 

– Although the number of jobs destroyed will be surpassed by the number of ‘jobs of tomorrow’ created, in contrast to previous years, job creation is slowing while job destruction accelerates,” it stated.

 

Highlighting the skills that many organisations will be looking for in five years, the WEF said: “In 2025, analytical thinking, creativity, and flexibility will be among the most sought-after skills.

 

Employers see critical thinking, analysis, and problem-solving as growing in importance in the coming years, although these have  consistently been cited in previous editions of the survey. Newly emerging this year are skills in self-management, such as active learning, resilience, stress tolerance, and flexibility.

 

The data available through metrics partnerships with LinkedIn and Coursera allowed us to track with unprecedented granularity the types of specialized skills needed for the jobs of tomorrow.”

 

It added that the most competitive businesses will focus on upgrading their workers’ skills, noting that for workers set to remain in their roles over the next five years, nearly half will need retraining for their core skills.

 

“The survey also found that the public sector needs to provide stronger support for reskilling and upskilling of at-risk or displaced workers. Currently, only 21 per cent of  businesses report being able to make use of public funds to support their employees through retraining initiatives.

 

The public sector must provide incentives for investment in the markets and jobs of tomorrow, offer stronger safety nets for displaced workers during job transitions, and tackle longdelayed improvements of education and training systems.

 

“Remote work is here to stay. Some 84 per cent of employers are set to rapidly digitalise work processes, including a significant expansion of remote working. Employers say there is the potential to move 44 per cent of their workforce to operate remotely.

 

However, 78 per cent of business leaders expect some negative impact on worker productivity, and many businesses are taking steps to help their employees adapt,” the report stated.

Read Previous

Vessels jostle to discharge 2,200 used vehicles in Lagos

Read Next

Turbulent times impact Infinity Trust’s earnings

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *