Employers will divide work between humans and machines equally by 2025, according to the World Economic Forum. It noted global workforce is automating faster than expected and 85 million jobs will be displaced by automation in the next five years at midsize and large businesses.
Its report noted that more than 80% of business executives are accelerating plans to digitize work processes and 50% are expecting to accelerate the automation of some roles.
Affected roles include those in data entry, accounting and administrative report. On the other hand, roles that leverage human skills will rise in demand.
“Covid-19 has accelerated the arrival of the future of work,” World Economic Forum Managing Director Saadia Zahidi said. “Accelerating automation and the fallout from the Covid-19 recession has deepened existing inequalities across labor markets and reversed gains in employment made since the global financial crisis in 2007-2008.”
Some 43% of businesses surveyed indicate that they are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, 41% plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work, and 34% plan to expand their workforce due to technology integration.
However, the World Economic Forum reported the “robot revolution” will create 97 million new jobs. Still, communities most at risk from disruption will need support from businesses and governments.
Roles where humans will retain a competitive advantage include managing, advising, decision-making, reasoning, communicating and interacting. Roles will also be available in green economy jobs, data and artificial intelligence, engineering, cloud computing, and product development.