Summary of “Robots Could Replace Nearly a Third of the U.S. Workforce by 2030”

ARTICLE SUMMARY 2

Summary of “Robots Could Replace Nearly a Third of the U.S. Workforce by 2030”
In the article titled “Robots could replace nearly a third of the U.S. workforce by 2030”
Danielle Paquette, November 30, 2017, reports that nearly a third of the workforce of not just
America but also of advanced economies such as Japan and Germany will lose their jobs due to
rising tide of automation.
Citing a report by McKinsey Global Institute, the author writes that the job losses will be
at every stage of people’s careers. Jobs at most risk are those that involve repetitive tasks, those
that involve predictable physical work such as installation of construction equipment, and those
that deal with office support work such as paralegals and secretaries. These jobs will be replaced
because of increasing sophistication of machines which can now perform tasks that were
previously only handled by people. Even some white collar jobs are not going to be spared as the
use of artificial intelligence increases.
The jobs that automation and artificial intelligence are going to find hard to replace, and
therefore, the jobs that are going to enjoy most security are those that involve communication,
human touch, creativity, and empathy. These jobs include those of writers, artists, caretakers, and
psychologists.
The disruption caused at the workplace is going to be on a massive scale comparable only
to shift from agriculture to manufacturing in the developed world in the last century. To prepare
for this shift, McKinsey researchers have recommended more public investment in education and
job training centres. However, there are worries among many technology watchers and bosses
that job training programs and education systems are not evolving fast enough to meet future
labor demands.

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On a positive note though, the coming age of automation and artificial intelligence will
not just be one of job losses; new jobs will be created such as those of robot creators.
Additionally, automation and artificial intelligence will not only lead to more productivity but
also improved general well-being as they will be able to perform many tasks better than humans.

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References

Paquette, D. (Nov. 30, 2017). Robots could replace nearly a third of the U.S. workforce by 2030.
The Washington Post. Retrieved on 12 th September, 2019 on
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/11/30/robots-could-soon-replace-
nearly-a-third-of-the-u-s-workforce/?noredirect=on