Millennials OK in robot age

Being a millennial is hard. You may never make it onto the property ladder, and you’re likely told you’re spoilt and entitled when you can’t find a job.

However, all might not be lost. According to new data from Indeed, one of the United Kingdom’s largest job search websites, when you do get a job, you’re more likely to hang onto it when the robot revolution comes. This is because the jobs millennials tend to choose are at lower risk of automation.

The site analysed the online search patterns of millions of UK jobseekers over six months, and found that nearly half of millennials (48 per cent) were searching for what economists term ‘‘nonroutine’’ jobs, such as professional and management roles.

In comparison, 61 per cent of baby boomers were looking for ‘‘routine’’ jobs, which include sales, admin, transport, and construction roles. These sorts of jobs are more prone to automation according to economists, because they often involve repetition, which machines are quick to master.

Jobs that include more human interaction are less likely to be replaced by robots.

Over a third (34 per cent) of searches by baby boomers were for routine manual jobs, compared with barely a fifth for millennials, who were 67 per cent less likely to search for these roles.

Economist Mariano Mamertino said technology continues to reshape the way we work as well as the type and number of jobs that are available.

‘‘Disappearing jobs can be a frightening concept and it’s impossible to know exactly which jobs are ‘safe’. But everyone can prepare for the future by building up transferable, non-routine skills that can be applied across a wide array of occupations,’’ he said.