Robots and software and jobs, oh my

You rang, Sir?   (Photo by Gnsin)

Although researchers are predicting that 47 percent of current U. S. jobs might be automated within the next two decades,

this doesn’t necessarily mean that the unemployment rate will skyrocket.

Nor does it necessarily indicate that meaningful work is a thing of the past.  Jeff Ward-Bailey of Christian Science Monitor points out that “new jobs will arise as others are ceded to machines.”

For example, even food servers are subject to this change.  Restaurant chains such as Applebee’s are already utilizing tablets for customers to place orders on and make payments with.  Legal secretaries and telemarketers are also being phased out.

However, new industries such as “software development, big data analysis, and renewable energy” are providing jobs that never used to exist.  Industries “that haven’t even been dreamed up yet” will also help to fill some employment gaps.

Ward-Bailey explains that America is no stranger to vocational transitions.  Whereas approximately 40 percent of the U. S. labor force was agriculturally based a mere century ago, “today only about 2 percent” still is.

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/if-robots-replace-half-of-us-workers-what-role-will-humans-play/ar-BBklEL6?li=AA54ur

Copyright June 3, 2015 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved