Changes of work in the future are increasingly influenced by automation, robots, and AI. Some jobs will be lost, in others new skills are expected from the employee, and there are jobs that remain unchanged. Find out what will change in your future working life and whether it will be necessary for you to prepare yourself with more education and learning new skills.
Changes of Work because of Changes of Technology
Automation, robots, and artificial intelligence improve our lives and change the working world. Not everyone is prepared for these changes and more changes are ahead. Jobs are lost and new jobs are created.
There will be less low paid jobs. It will not be easy for people with little education.
Middle paid jobs could grow, but only with more specialized education and a willingness to constantly learn.
High paid jobs will ask for more education and more experience.
MIT Europe Conference 2021 – New Realities of How We Work And Live
Changes of work through time
New technologies have always cost jobs and new job opportunities were created.
- I immediately think of the weavers in England who were replaced by machine looms. This was more than hundred years ago.
- Farm workers had to give way to tractors. They not only lost their work, but also their home, because they have lived on the farms.
- Mine workers lost their jobs because mines had to close and there was no work in the greater area.
- When producers moved production to countries with cheap wages, many factory workers lost their jobs. Today more factory workers lose their jobs to automation and robots.
- Because of to the ATM card and internet banking, many bank branches have been closed and quite a few bank employees have lost their jobs. These people had specialized training with which they could no longer do anything.
- Today more and more shops close, because people buy on the internet. Sales people lose their jobs and owners who did not continue their shops on the internet also.
- Many new jobs are generated for which you need new training and new skills.
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Where will be job losses, no change, and an increase of jobs
Where will there be job losses
Many jobs can and will be automated and many people will lose their jobs. As in the past, people with low wage jobs are not prepared for this. Not all unemployed people are willing or able to be trained for other jobs. Often there is a lack of flexibility to move to another part of the country where they could find work. Those who are upgrading their skills will find new challenges.
Examples where automation and robotics lead to job losses
- Drones deliver medical and other supplies whose delivery is urgent.
- Delivery robots will deliver for short distances.
- Meat packing are increasingly made by machines, especially because of health risks.
- There will be more labor-saving reorganization in many industries.
- Highly developed robots with specialized programs help as assistants in decision making in certain industries. That could cut decision makers’ salaries.
- The use of robots in production will continue to increase.
- Robots do logistic work in warehouses as at Amazon.
- Professional drivers, trucks and taxis are being replaced by automated cars.
- Robotic bars and cafes (in summer 2020 the first robotic café has opened in Toronto, Canada) are the future and people will get used to it. Working in a café is a low paid job where little skills are needed.
- There will be fewer sellers – more is being sold on the internet, so there are fewer shops. On the internet one has a large selection, can set a price range, und reed reviews.
- In the last few years many bookstores have closed. On the internet you have a large selection of books, you can read excerpts from a book and read reviews.
Professions in which nothing will change
When it comes to leading people in the private sector and in the government, there will be no loss of work.
In those areas where automation would be too expensive because the salaries are low, where the work is personal, there will also be no job losses. This includes elderly- and childcare, hairdressers, gardeners, household cleaning, also plumbers and electricians.
Journalists will always be needed. But this is a job that requires special education.
News anchors, on the other hand, could lose their jobs because journalists can feed remotely the news to robots that replace newscasters. There will still be people who will be choosing news that will be published in the media.
Professions in which there will be an increase of jobs
There will be more jobs where the new technologies are involved, for example in the information-technology services – such as developers of programs and other IT specialists. These jobs require specialized education.
Jobs that always require human labor, such as construction. These are jobs as construction workers, architects, engineers, electricians, installers, and other tradespeople and repair services.
As there will be more residential buildings, more people in the garbage collection will be in demand.
The growing population needs more teachers, which includes adult education, education for people who have to learn new skills to be able to find new employment.
Job demand in leisure and recreation will grow and also in service jobs.
There will be an increasing demand for elderly-care, health-care, doctors, nurses. especially as the older population is growing.
What effects does automation and AI have on wages
In professions where AI and automation makes work easier, wages will be lower.
Professions that are not in great demand are paid less.
Some jobs will require additional training, which will result in higher salaries.
It will be more challenging to find the right talent for a specific job
Human resource management will have to be more specialized to find the right people for specific and challenging jobs. It will include to analyze differences in people.
A new science will be dedicated to studying human brains, behaviors, and thought processes.
Read more Cognitive science as a new people science for the future of work
This is from John Gabrieli, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute for Brain, Research, & MIT Integrated Learning Initiative) has explained that language learning does make a noticeable difference in the brain and then in the thinking. This is incomparably greater when the language is very different from the mother tongue, for example when an American is learning Mandarin.
The new technologies also lead to changes in the work environment
There is more telepresence – less commuting
- Greater Telepresence
- Work from home and remote learning
- Work from home created for high wage workers
- Less Business Travel
Greater Telepresence
Employees communicate with their employers and colleagues via video conference, which makes working from home possible.
Schoolchildren and students listen to lectures in the form of videos online. These lectures do not have to be given repeatedly by the teaching staff.
Contact with friends who live far away can be maintained.
Work from home and remote learning
There will be more work from home in the future, however, working from home is preferred for senior employees. Working from home saves companies a lot of money. Google was $ 1 billion in 2020.
During the pandemic, all schools were held via the internet. This led to the idea that some subjects could also be held online in the future.
Universities have the opportunity to give lectures and, in some cases, seminars via the Internet and video conference, which makes large lecture halls unnecessary.
Less Business Travel
With the Corona pandemic executives have used video conferencing and saw the advantages. It not only saves a lot of time, but also saves expenses on business travel.
This als
o means less flights, fewer pilots and flight attendants, less low paid work at the airports. Less hotel stays meaning less jobs in hotels. Less expansive dinners and bar stays which means less waitresses and waiters. All this will change the business travel world,
The part about greater telepresence is from David H. Autor (Ford Professor and Economics Department, Associate Head co-chair MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future, spoke at the MIT Vienna Conference March 25, 2021.
Everyone is responsible for whether he will be employable in the future
When it comes to unemployment and making jobs the governments have their responsibilities. My point of view is that it is each person’s responsibility to think of his future and if he will be employed and employable. Everyone has to decide for themselves which training they need for their future job and should prepare for it in good time.
Read more What the future of work will mean for Jobs, skills, and wages
