Can we compete with Robots and Automation? What is the future of jobs?
This is the big question everybody is asking nowadays as we watch the fourth Industrial Revolution. I came across this insightful research “How to compete with robots by assessing job automation risks and resilient alternatives”.
I summarised some of the key points here. How can this help you to think about your career and the future of your career?
They have created two models Automation Risk Index (ARI) and Resilience Index (AI).
They started by breaking down a job description into a list of required abilities and knowledge.
Also, they measured to what extent abilities can be fulfilled by robots, taking into account how advanced they are in terms of technological development.
They have computed an automation risk index (ARI), which assesses the risk of that job being automated by a robot.
The ARI is based on how many of an occupation’s required abilities can be performed by robots and on the importance of those abilities for that specific occupation.
ARI varies within and across occupation families, indicating that it is possible for workers to move to a job with a lower ARI without excessive retraining.
For existing jobs, they have computed a resilience index (RI), that is publicly searchable and measures if your job is at risk.
You can do this as a user by simply entering your occupation. You will find out the automation risk associated with it, what are the alternatives “resilient alternatives” — jobs with a lower automation risk that you could switch to with minimal retraining.
This method was applied to the U.S. workforce in 2018 and it showed that it could significantly reduce the workers’ automation risk, while the increasing job resiliency
Who can use these methods or tools?
Governments could use the proposed method to evaluate their populations’ unemployment risk and adjust educational policies.
Robotics companies could use it to better understand market needs, and members of the public could use it to identify the easiest route to reposition themselves on the job market.
I hope this gives you an idea of the future of work in the fourth Industrial Revolution. Yes, machines and robots are coming whether we like them or not.
