Rise of the machines
Just as those who made a living from horse and cart found themselves in a spot of bother when the Ford Model T was introduced, today’s labour force will have to make way for robots and computers that do tasks faster and more efficiently than humans.
These are the inevitable costs of progress. They will take place at an unknown pace and affect industries, ages and genders differently. And there are experts who have thought about how this will play out, what you can do to safeguard yourjobandhow to profit from it.
Gender gaps
Automation could threaten men sooner due to their over-representation in industries that rely on manual labour. By the same token, traditionally female-dominated jobs that are more people-based could be complemented, rather than replaced, by automation.
“Women are more likely to be employed in areas like healthcare and education, where the workforces are 80% and 63% female respectively,” says HR consultant Conrad Liveris.
“Those are areas which will have automation on the side, rather than directly, like we see in manufacturing. The workforce there is almost 73% male.”
Unresolved economics
Students have long been taught something along these lines: technological progress boosts efficiency, lifting productivity and profits, which in turn leads to higher consumer spending and, in the end, more jobs. This cycle has been borne out by history. Major technological advancements have never affected wages as a share of national income, a pattern so dependable the economist John Maynard Keynes labelled it “a bit of a miracle”.
Opinion is split on whether the same will happen this time around. There are economists who believe this cycle will sort everything out. Nobel laureate economist Christopher Pissarides and JacquesBughin, of the McKinsey Global Institute, believe automation “implies faster economic growth, more consumer spending, increased labour demand, and thus greater job creation.” Others aren’t so sure.
“The introduction of labour-saving technology will result in lower prices, but it will also reduce consumption by workers who are made redundant,” says Robert Skidelsky, professor emeritus of political economy at Warwick University in the UK. Australia may be in a better position than other countries.
“While many Australian workers will be affected by impending technological change, for most the impact will be less dramatic than the loss of their entire job and livelihood,” according to a University of Melbourne study. “More Australians will be forced to alter how they spend their working hours, as machines become more proficient (and cost-effective) at a wider range of today’s human tasks.”