WEF study says more than 5 million jobs will be lost to robots by 2020

According to the Business Insider author Lianna Brinded, significant technological advances have reshaped society as we know it.

But the World Economic Forum (WEF) warned that while this is pushing us into “the fourth industrial revolution” and is transforming the labour markets beyond all recognition from decades ago, it will lead to a net loss of over 5 million jobs in 15 major developed and emerging economies by 2020.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which includes developments in previously disjointed fields such as artificial intelligence and machine-learning, robotics, nanotechnology, 3-D printing, and genetics and biotechnology, will cause widespread disruption not only to business models but also to labour markets over the next five years, with enormous change predicted in the skill sets needed to thrive in the new landscape.

These major economies include Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US.

WEF said in its report, entitled “The Future of Jobs,” which was published on Monday January 18th, that while skills and jobs displacement will affect every industry and geographical region, these job losses can be offset by employment growth in other areas.

WEF estimated that 7.1 million jobs could be lost through redundancy, automation, or disintermediation, while the creation of 2.1 million new jobs, mainly in more specialised areas such as computing, math, architecture, and engineering, could partially offset some of the losses.

“Without urgent and targeted action today to manage the near-term transition and build a workforce with futureproof skills, governments will have to cope with ever-growing unemployment and inequality, and businesses with a shrinking consumer base,” said Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in the report.

by Lianna Brinded for Business Insider

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