Automation is Killing Jobs and Becoming a Threat to Human Labor

Automation is growing at a steady pace and needless to say the perks come along with the drawbacks. The threat is to all those human laborers who will soon lose their jobs with automation. Robotics will replace human labor for its speed, accuracy, and volume. Experts say sectors like manufacturing and real estate are transforming with robotics and the problem like labor shortage has been managed efficiently. A report was published by PWC which stated that around 30% of UK jobs would be taken up by robots. The US history has a similar example of automation. 100 years back the horse population slashed down to 26 million with the innovation of vehicles and cars. The debate continues today, as today robots are evolving to take the place of human laborers.

But like the horse population, the human labor does not have the fear of complete extinction. Researchers are saying that the society involves few tasks that are to be done by humans and robots cannot replace them. Have a look at the jobs that are at risk and also check out the jobs that are safe from this automation.  

Jobs that are at risk:

 

Drivers

After self-parking, there’s self-driving that’s going to come with modern day cars. Once this self-driving is introduced there will be no requirement of drivers. Some researchers believe this is also going to cut down the accident rates and traffic-related crimes. The author of "The Driver in the Driverless Car," Vivek Wadhwa shared his estimation regarding the drivers losing their jobs. As per his study, by 2020 around 5 million drivers are going to lose their position due to self-driven cars. Till date, there are no such signs of automation when it comes to delivery of packages or unloading a good vehicle. But there is a hope that in some years that role would be taken up by drones as they start dropping the packages to the destined location, that too within a less time. The deployment of human labor will be seen in managing the automated machines and keep a check on the automated vehicles.

 

 

Toll booth operators and Retailers

If you have taken into notice, toll booths are already being a part of the automation. Around 16 states in the USA have E-ZPass that operate the toll booths.  

The next is about the retailers. There is a slight division here and the boutiques and luxury stores are going to stay out of automation as per expert prediction. They will need human expertise to display the insights of a particular product. Along with that, there is a huge scope of customization and personalization that can be handled by humans. But going by the sources, around 7.5 million retail jobs will go through the process of automation. Kiosks and self-checkouts are in the process of this shift. In Wendy and McDonald, you will find kiosks that allow the customer to place orders through a touchscreen just like you do in the smartphone. As per a report from The Bureau of Labor and Statistics, by 2024 around 80,000 fast food joints will cut off its workers. The reason behind this is the minimum wage that is being allotted for workers of the states is quite high. The companies are estimating that if they install automative systems instead of laborers they will be able to save both money and time. Edward Rensisaid, the former McDonald's chief executive said in one of his interviews, “It's cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who's inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries.”

Self-checkouts are installed by CVS in 448 locations. The Amazon Go in Seattle is reportedly to start an automation in the process of payment through which the customers can save the time that they spent standing in the long queue.  

 

Jobs that won’t eliminate human labor

Human labor or more specifically human touch and social intelligence are required in various sectors and such jobs are not at risk with this widespread acceptance of automation. Physicians and nurses, whose work is to offer care and medical support, cannot be done by machines.  It is true that the medical industry is getting aided with several kinds of machines that are smoothening the diagnosis process and helping in detecting diseases.

The next is the training specialists. Skills are a specialty of a human while machines are only able to perform. A trainer of any sports will never be replaced by a robot. Dedication, supportiveness, developing the character have no machine interference and will thus solely involve human efforts.

Professions like a hairstylist, social worker, and any other work that involves creative and emotional touch, needs a human. After all, you cannot make a robot feel and write songs of love.

Low skill and lack of creativity will make humans lose out to robots. If the present workers have got skills, experts believe that they will choose other career options. The labor market will get affected if the person lacks the skill of reasoning and thinking. A study says that it’s time for the laborers to go ahead of technology by developing the human skills. Developing creative skill and social skill is not possible for every human as there are certain limits of human nature and psychology that cannot be surpassed. As all the employees in the current workforce will not be able to adapt themselves to the growing demands, upsurge of labor disputes is a sure thing. Automation will lead to better productivity and increased profit margins. This is mainly because there will be less time involved in executing the task. The need for revisions and rework will be eliminated as there will be no human error.

Source:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/09/27/jobs-risk-automation-according-oxford-university-one/

https://money.cnn.com/2017/09/15/technology/jobs-robots/index.html