A year-long research on the impact of automation on the workplaces and the prospects for robot revolution found that the ‘future of jobs’ had come early according to Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic is making businesses automate their workers faster than anticipated worldwide, while businesses operating in India are speeding their automation and digitalisation above the worldwide average, according to a report by the World Economic Forum ( WEF) on Wednesday.
A year-long research on the impact of robotics on the workplace and the prospects for robot revolution found that the ‘future of employment’ has come early according to Covid-19 and could lead to 85 million workers being replaced within the next five years in medium and large companies in only 15 sectors and 26 economies.
At the very same period, the automation revolution would generate 97 million new jobs, but the populations most at risk of displacement would require help from companies and governments, the World Economic Forum said.
Most of these new occupations will emerge in the care economy, in the 4th industrial revolution, technological sectors such as artificial intelligence, and in content production.
“Companies with activities in India are accelerating automation and digitalization above the worldwide average, while 58 percent are accelerating the automation of tasks relative to 50 percent worldwide, as many as 87 percent are accelerating the digitization of job processes, above the worldwide average of 84 percent,” the study found.
Employers can split tasks evenly between humans and robots by 2025. The positions that exploit human capabilities would boost demand. Machines will be mainly focused on data and information analysis, administrative activities and routine manual activities for white and blue-collar roles.
The activities that humans are set to retain their comparative advantage include handling, informing, decision-making, thinking, communicating and connecting. There will be an increase in demand for employees who can occupy green-economy positions, leading roles in the data and artificial intelligence economy, as well as current roles in engineering, cloud computing and product development.
