When will we be jobless?

Have you ever walked in Tesco or Sainsbury, got your favourite snack and thought ‘I will just go to the self-checkout machine, its faster’? 

This is just one example of the technologies that have been invented to replace the working hand and give a ‘faster’ experience to the customers. 

According to Smartercx “the self-checkout system market is expected to reach $4 billion by 2024”

Many people may disagree with the statement above, as they might enjoy the face-to-face contact with the worker. This may give them a better customer experience which will benefit the company as well. 

While the self-checkout system market increases, more people will be losing their jobs to be replaced by a machine. A report by McKinsey estimates that by 2030, 3 to 14 percent of the global workforce will be replaced by robots. 

As technology changes our lives changes with them. Mobile phones have become meaningful assets in people’s lives (mine certainly is). It has been estimated that ‘by 2020, 50 billion smart devices’ will be operating. Just 15 years ago you had to click many times on a button to select the right letter; now we touch the letter and it appears. 

If the predictions are proven to be correct, employees would have to adapt to new skills which would be desired by employers. An article written by Alex Grey, compares the different skills demanded in 2015 and 2020. It shows that creativity is placed on third place in today’s demand. However, in 2015 the demand for creativity skill is on tenth place. 

According to Grey’s article, the top three skills that employers demand are complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity. The three skills that would never be replaced by robots are empathy and communication, critical thinking and creativity.  

In short, communication, critical thinking and creativity are the skills to develop for now until the robots come around. 

Image reference:

Nayyar, Gaurav. (2017) Technological Innovation. Available at: https://www.worldbank.org/en/events/2017/10/03/technological-innovation (Accessed: 10/02/2020).