Will Your Work Be Automated Before 2030?

In a recent study by Ipsos and the World Economic Forum, the concerns of workers in 28 countries are published, where their expectations regarding future jobs are analyzed.

66% of professionals are confident about their abilities to keep their current job. However, confidence is lower in the Netherlands, Turkey, Mexico or India, and enormously low in countries such as Japan, South Korea, Poland, Italy or Russia.

Globally 10% see it very likely that their work will end up being automated in the next 10 years and 23% consider that this is likely to happen. However, more than half (54%) see it as unlikely. On the other hand, 11% affirm that they have no certainty about what may happen.

“Digitization involves automating more and more jobs. The more of our work is devoted to decision-making, the less we feel threatened by digitization, and the more we accept that decision-making is based on tools that help us make better decisions. “Points Vicente Castellanos, Director of Social Studies at Ipsos.

With a few exceptions, adult workers in emerging economies have more expectations of their work being automated than professionals in advanced economies.

India (71%), Saudi Arabia (56%), China (55%), Brazil (51%), and Mexico (50%) are the countries where workers most consider that their position will likely be automated before 2030.

On the other hand, the countries that are most suspicious of the claim that their work will be automated are France (19%), the United Kingdom (17%), the Netherlands (16%) and Germany and Hungary, both with a 14 %.

In the case of Spain, 32% of the Spaniards surveyed believe that it is likely that their work could be automated.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), presented a study that analyzes the aspirations and professional future of some forty countries, based on the data obtained in the PISA 2018 report.

The study shows that, both in Spain and in most OECD countries, 40% of young people want to work in professions that could disappear due to automation of work, including those in the banking sector, customer service and also those related to transportation or mechanics.

Spanish adolescents choose to be: teachers (17.2%), doctors (10%), psychologists (6.4%), lawyers and lawyers (6.9%), nurses and midwives (3.8%), police ( 3.6%), writers (3%), designers (2.9%) and veterinarians (2.3%).

The boys want to be: ICT professionals (9.5%), police (7.3%), engineers (7.3%), teachers (7.1%), automotive mechanics (4.5%), doctors (3.9%), athletes (3.7%), firefighters (2.3%), writers (2%) and designers (1.9%).

The OECD adds that in countries where there is more variety in the choice, such as Germany and Switzerland, it is because they provide more resources in career guidance in institutes and in the way students are explained to them the job offer. All this so that students can make decisions with more information about highly qualified programs, which are often offered from Vocational Training.

According to the study, adolescent girls aspire to more solid jobs than boys, and students from favoured backgrounds also make better choices than from disadvantaged ones.

The professions that, according to the OECD, are most at risk of being automated are accountants and auditors, those related to activities facing the public, such as travel agents, cashiers, secretaries, receptionists or insurance agents, teleoperators that offer services of customer service and banking employees.

Conclusion

When it comes to recommending which are the best professions to work in the future or which careers will avoid having a position at risk of being automated, the reality is that it is a somewhat ambiguous matter.

What we can make clear is that specific skills will be required, which can be performed from functions that are irreplaceable by software. Taking into account that what cannot be automated will bring great value.

Also Read: Why Automation Is Now More Important Than Ever?