Report: Machines to handle over half workplace tasks by 2025

GENEVA — More than half of all workplace tasks will be carried out by machines by 2025, organizers of the Davos economic forum said in a report released Monday that highlights the speed with which the labour market will change in coming years.

The World Economic Forum estimates that machines will be responsible for 52 per cent of the division of labour — as a share of hours — within seven years, up from just 29 per cent today. By 2022, the report says, roughly 75 million jobs worldwide will be lost, but that could be more than offset by the creation of 133 million new jobs.

A major challenge, however, will be training and retraining employees for that new world of work.

“By 2025, the majority of workplace tasks in existence today will be performed by machines or algorithms. At the same time a greater number of new jobs will be created,” said Saadia Zahidi, a WEF board member. “Our research suggests that neither businesses nor governments have fully grasped the size of this key challenge of the fourth industrial revolution.”

The “Future of Jobs 2018” report, the second of its kind, is based on a survey of executives representing 15 million employees in 20 economies. Its authors say the outlook for job creation has become more positive since the last report in 2016 because businesses have a better sense of the opportunities made possible by technology.

The report said nearly half of all companies expect their fulltime workforces to shrink by 2022, while nearly two in five expect to extend their workforce generally, and over a quarter expect automation to create new roles in their enterprises.