Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Open markets and global trade have been blamed for job losses over the last decade, but global CEOs say the real culprits are increasingly … machines.
From taxi drivers to healthcare professionals, technologies such as robotics, ll intelligence and 3-D printing mean more and more types of jobs are at risk. Adidas, for example, aims to use 3-D printing in the manufacture of some running shoes.
“Jobs will be lost, jobs will evolve and this revolution is going to be ageless, it’s going to be classless and it’s going to affect everyone,” said Meg Whitman, chief executive of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Compared to clamping down on immigration by tightening borders, dealing with the impact of technology destroying jobs is something that is perhaps even less easily controlled. For while many advanced technologies remain more expensive than low- or medium-skilled labour in the near term, the shift is likely to accelerate as costs come down.
Over the last decade, more jobs have been lost to technology than any other factor, and John Drzik, head of global risk at insurance broker Marsh, expects more of the same. Technological advancements require governments, businesses and academic institutions to develop more educated and highly-skilled workforces.
But this shift to skilled workers also widens the income gap and fuels growing inequality. In 2015 Forrester Research predicted that by 2019, onequarter of all job tasks will be physical robots, or customer self-service automation.
The scope of the employment risk from what the WEF calls the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ which ‘blurs the lines between the physical, digital and biological spheres’ is unclear.
“Technology is the big issue and we don’t acknowledge that,” said Mark Weinberger, chairman of consultancy EY, arguing there was a tendency to always blame trading partners. not be safe. “CEOs feel l not going to be replaced by lll Beale, CEO of the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, said. “But I’m sure there will be a time!”
