Social skills: the only thing robots lack
WOMEN’S superior social skills mean they have less to fear than men from the rise of robots in the workplace, a study suggests.
It found women are taking a greater share of top jobs that still require a human touch amid the increasing automation of business and industry.
The study, published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research, was based on records of collegeeducated Americans who went on to take the most responsible jobs. It found that in 1980, just over 66% of male graduates worked in high-paying “cognitive” jobs requiring brains rather than brawn, for example as company managers, doctors, accountants, software engineers and economists.
By 2000, the share of men in such jobs had dropped to 63%, while the number of women in such jobs rose from 54% to almost 59%.
Author Nir Jaimovich, professor of economics at the University of Zurich, said: “In a world with accelerating automation, the results suggest the growing importance of social skills.”
The report said a rising demand for social skills such as empathy, communication and emotion recognition had increased the share of female employment in good jobs. Psychological research indicated that women had a comparative advantage in such skills.