Robots are to handle 52 percent of today’s work tasks by 2025, almost twice as many as now, a World Economic Forum study said yesterday.
The sharp increase could also see a net gain in “new roles” for humans, who would need to revamp skills to keep pace with the “seismic shift” in how humans work with machines and computer programs, the forum said.
“By 2025, more than half of all current workplace tasks will be performed by machines, as opposed to 29 percent today,” a statement by the Swiss non-profit organization said.
Simultaneously, rapid changes in machines and algorithms, or computer processes that are designed to solve problems, “could create 133 million new roles in place of 75 million that will be displaced between now and 2022,” the group said.
Based near Geneva, Switzerland, the forum is known for the annual meeting of wealthy individuals, politicians and business leaders that it organizes in Davos, Switzerland.
Its report, The Future of Jobs 2018, says robots are to swiftly replace humans in the accounting, client management, industrial, postal and secretarial sectors.
Jobs that require “human skills,” such as sales, marketing and customer service, should see demand increase, along with e-commerce and social media.
A major challenge would be to retrain workers, who would themselves be pressed to update skills, especially in the areas of “creativity, critical thinking and persuasion,” the study said.
It surveyed personnel directors and senior executives from a broad range of companies worldwide that account for 70 percent of global output.
Between this year and 2022, they believe that the aviation, travel and tourism sectors in particular would have to retrain workers, and identified an overall trend toward lifelong learning and adaptation.
Governments were advised to prepare safety nets for workers and communities threatened by what the forum said would be “a significant shift” in the quality and permanency of the new jobs.
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