{"id":1456,"date":"2017-07-03T06:49:22","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T06:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cn7w3i4565-staging.onrocket.site\/?p=1456"},"modified":"2017-11-10T06:47:49","modified_gmt":"2017-11-10T06:47:49","slug":"automation-anxiety-the-shift-in-the-workforce-starts-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/automation-anxiety-the-shift-in-the-workforce-starts-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Automation Anxiety: The Shift in the Workforce Starts Here"},"content":{"rendered":"

With job automation steadily reducing the need for human operators in certain industries, could we be facing a future of worsening inequality and stagnant incomes? According to articles published by the New York Times<\/a> and the Associated Press<\/a>, it may be a very real problem.<\/p>\n

As machines, robots, and software become more intelligent and sophisticated by the day, they\u2019re putting the global workforce at risk, with a possible endangerment of 47% of all jobs in the United States<\/a> alone.<\/p>\n

So, just how concerned should you be? Will a robot be taking over your job anytime soon, rendering you a professional couch potato? Perhaps it might be what mankind needs in order to drive us all to become more creative, pursuing more rewarding endeavors\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Machines Have Always Been Taking Our Jobs<\/h1>\n

The turnover in workforce composition has always been fueled by elements such as innovation, technology, and shifting cultural norms. Industries rise and fall all the time. New products and services are continuously being developed, which means that machines have been part of the workforce for much longer than most of us care to admit.<\/p>\n

Back in the 1750\u2019s, artisanal skills were in high demand, but quickly got replaced by factory workers with the turn of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. By late 1980, the jobs created during the revolution had been replaced and fallen into the hands of machines.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a major shift happening in the skill sets people need,\u201d<\/em> says Alison Sander, director of the Centre for Sensing and Mining the Future at the Boston Consulting Group. \u201cBut that\u2019s not a focus of our education system.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

We\u2019re NOT Living in the Past Anymore<\/h1>\n

The key difference between the changes of the past and the technological advances threatening jobs today is the pace at which all of this transformation is happening. Sadly, the employment market of modern times might not be evolving at a desirable speed to keep up with the changes. Even in developed countries, the ratio of employment compared to the overall population has been dropping significantly over the past 10 years.<\/p>\n

Employees who held middle class positions 10 years ago – telephone operators, book binders, and the likes – just shifted to lower paying positions, such as cleaning houses or waiting tables when their \u2018field of work\u2019 approached the age of extinction. Why? Because they didn\u2019t receive the training required to transition into other proper jobs in a similar economic tier.<\/p>\n

As the demand for highly skilled, educated workers steeply grows, it precipitously declines for those who possess over moderate and low education. If you\u2019re an employee that could have maintained a middle-class position in the past, this means that it might not be a viable option<\/a> for you in the future because your job might be at risk of being ousted by automation.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks<\/h1>\n

The good news with regards to automation is that not all sectors of the workforce are at risk of being ousted by machines and computers. Some positions will always require a touch of human involvement, which means that there will always be room for people in the workforce. Perhaps employees will just need to learn a few new skills in order to excel at their jobs in the near future.<\/p>\n

Humans are simply superior with jobs that require entrepreneurship, interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and creativity. This means that positions such as motivational speakers, caretakers, entertainers, clergymen, burses, and trainers will probably always be around, and flourish in an automated world.<\/p>\n

The fact that the demand for handcrafted goods, gourmet small-batch foods, and salvaged and restored furniture is steadily rising could indicate a positive as far as human employment is concerned. Just because a job can be automated doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that it will be, it\u2019s all up to consumers in certain instances.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Final Thoughts<\/h2>\n

Yes, technology has shut quite a few career doors in the past, and it will probably continue to do so, but so long as there are entrepreneurs among us, new waves of professional paths will open up, allowing employees to create and explore new possibilities.<\/p>\n

Allowing the computers to take over, to some extent, might not be all bad, and when it\u2019s almost guaranteed to lead to an increase of global wealth and wellbeing, who are we to rage at the machines?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With job automation steadily reducing the need for human operators in certain industries, could we be facing a future of worsening inequality and stagnant incomes? According to articles published by the New York Times and the Associated Press, it may be a very real problem. As machines, robots, and software become more intelligent and sophisticated Continued \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":1370,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[471],"class_list":["post-1456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adzuna.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}