Report: Machines to Handle More Than Half of Workplace Tasks by 2025
GENEVA — More than half of all workplace tasks will be carried out by machines by 2025, organizers of the Davos economic forum said in a report released Sept. 17 that highlights the speed with which the labor market will change in coming years.
The World Economic Forum estimates that machines will be responsible for 52% of the division of labor as share of hours within seven years, up from just 29% today. By 2022, the report says, about 75 million jobs worldwide will be lost, but that could be more than offset by the creation of 133 million jobs.
A major challenge, however, will be training and retraining employees for that new world of work.
WEF Future of Jobs 2018 by Transport Topics on Scribd
“By 2025, the majority of workplace tasks in existence today will be performed by machines or algorithms. At the same time, a greater number of new jobs will be created,” WEF board member Saadia Zahidi said. “Our research suggests that neither businesses nor governments have fully grasped the size of this key challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.”
The “Future of Jobs 2018” report, the second of its kind, is based on a survey of executives representing 15 million employees in 20 economies. Its authors say the outlook for job creation has become more positive since the last report in 2016 because businesses have a better sense of the opportunities made possible by technology.
WEF said challenges for employers include enabling remote work, building safety nets to protect workers and providing reskilling for employees. However, the report found that only one in three respondents planned to reskill at-risk workers.
Despite net positive job growth, WEF anticipates a “significant shift in the quality, location, format and permanency of new roles. Businesses are to expand use of contractors for task-specialized work, engage workers in more flexible arrangements, utilize remote staffing, and change up locations to get access to the right talent.
To realise the full potential of AI, we must regulate it differently https://t.co/9oS3RDSUvu pic.twitter.com/jhczY5AaXG — World Economic Forum (@Davos) September 17, 2018
The report said nearly half of all companies expect their full-time workforces to shrink by 2022, while nearly two in five expect to extend their workforce generally, and more than one-quarter expect automation to create roles in their enterprises.
Germany’s powerful DGB trade union association warned against too-rapid change in the world of work.
“People, whether they’re workers or consumers, will only accept and tolerate the consequences if technology serves them — and not they it,” Reiner Hoffmann told daily Welt in reaction to the WEF report.
AP writer Frank Jordans contributed from Berlin.
