Report: Up To 80% Of Current Jobs Threatened By Technology

More than 70 percent of manufacturing jobs and more than half of jobs involving data collection might be rendered obsolete by automation and robots, according to a report from McKinsey & Company.

One study estimated up to 80 percent of current jobs may be threatened by automation, which could become a critical economic issue for policy makers and global leaders in the coming decades.

While Americans celebrate Labor Day weekend, it is a good time to contemplate the rise in artificial intelligence and how it can threaten jobs in all types of industries....

As long as they keep the engineers, tech and production workers here to design and build the automation products and robotics, and not send overseas, I don’t see a problem with that.

That's not what's happening though. I'm seeing it first hand working in Financial Services. Once the automation is done, the Operations are outsourced overseas.

Even the number of Engineers is being reduced as more and more is being automated. We're at the point where information robots are being used to analyze big data and make investment decisions (the bank I work for is actively working on that) and they're also starting to be used in the legal field to analyze cases, opinions, replacing lawyers and paralegals for example. (Yes, I agree, less lawyers is a GOOD thing.)

My own opinion on this topic is that the technology is getting too far ahead of our own ability to fully consider the implications of what implementing and using it really means.

Will information robots, decision robots, analytical robots and physical robots that do manufacturing and other tasks replace humans? YES.

But what does that mean in terms of other jobs and opportunities that will create, the impacts to daily human life and dare I say the human spirit and Government for example. Will fewer and fewer people be paying higher and higher taxes to support those who are put out of work either temporarily or permanently as this transition to an automated society happens?

The technology is racing ahead of our ability to fully analyze and understand the impacts to us as human beings and God's design for us (which is to WORK.) I think the danger here is crushing the human spirit and all the implications that will have on us as a society and globally.

Just my own .02 worth and I had no idea I'd be so philosophical on my first cup of coffee this morning. Go figure. Try that, robot! :-)

It'll be interesting to see that chart as the "rise of the robots" and automation takes hold over the next ten years. Keep in mind, robots (information, analytical, physical) have really only come into focus in the last few years and the technology is advancing at an incredible pace.

I don't believe that chart is an indicator of future performance which could be higher still, or lower. Just my own humble opinion.

“That’s not what’s happening though.”

It’s happening, at least globally, outsourcing to cheaper countries is another issue...

“Machines will replace human work” has been coming up since centuries -> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite But It didn’t happen and it won’t happen. As the old jobs vanish, the new ones appear. Global employment in IT must be tens of millions. Up from nearly zero just several decades ago. What about fitness instructors, wedding planners or... dog groomers ?

Besides, business needs consumers with money to purchase their goods and services, If the pipeline with new “crazy” jobs got dry somehow, they would invent new ones just to keep the whole thing going.

Not just a moron but a former offender trying to go straight, a teenager who grew up in a lousy neighborhood and was lucky to graduate alive, or someone whose job was outsourced to Commieland and is far too old to start from scratch. All those people and many more are going to get hosed.

With the system of apprenticeship long since gone we’re rapidly heading back to the bad old days of if you didn’t have rich parents or an incredibly rare skill you were screwed for life.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.