By Benjamin Chong
Eight hundred million jobs wiped out by 2030. Computers to replace five million Australian jobs within two decades. Massive job losses because of automation.
These alarming headlines are hitting the front pages of media. And if you believe these doomsday predictions, the future for Australians, especially those at school or in higher education, looks dire. But is it?
The workforce has faced similar threats before. After World War II, it was the influx of women entering the workforce. For example, in 1961, the ABS found that 34 per cent of Australian women aged 15 and over participated in the workforce. Now that figure stands at about 60 per cent, and it’s obvious how the increase in women in the Australian workforce has had a positive impact on both the number and diversification of jobs.
Technology has unfairly been targeted as a cause of unemployment. Often termed as technological unemployment, and made popular by John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s, it refers to the loss of jobs caused by technological change.
While many accept technological change can lead to short-term job losses, it’s clear that the adoption of technology will continue to contribute to economic productivity.
Australia has experienced a significant decrease in economic productivity since the 1990s.
Annual labour productivity growth averaged 2.1 per cent for the 10 years to 1999-2000 compared with 1.5 per cent for the 10 years to 2009-10. By adopting “productive technology”, we create more with less and generate more secure and high-paying jobs. So what areas are likely to change?
Specialist doctors like radiologists are some of best remunerated members of their profession.
However, we’ve already started to see how the rise of technology into radiology may prove to be disruptive.
Enlitic, a San Francisco-based start-up that applies deep learning, can interpret a medical image with a high degree of accuracy in mere milliseconds. What this means is that radiologists must upskill and be able to read complex images too difficult for a computer to interpret, or potentially change specialisation altogether.
Lawyers are often seen to have a parallel standing in the community as doctors.
While it’s still common to have lawyers review contracts or legal documentation, the next generation of legal technology is positioned to upset the legal profession.
Instead of a lawyer reading every line of a contract, a legal technology start-up such as Leverton will review the document and highlight non-standard clauses.
As with the radiology example, these clauses will be reviewed by experienced lawyers but they won’t be able to charge clients for the time spent reading the contract line by line.
Workers in logistics and transport will be substituted by technology.
Robots have already significantly improved the efficiency of warehouses by doing all the labour-intensive work. In late 2014, Amazon had 15,000 robots operating in 10 warehouses. Now it has more than 45,000 robots working in 20 centres.
A highly educated workforce is key to making the adjustment.
Over the past few years, one positive change in Australian education has been the elevation of science, technology, engineering and mathematics knowledge and skills.
While this is encouraging, on a recent trip to Silicon Valley I was reminded of the need for our education system to put the arts into a STEM education.
As technology improves, thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, along with advanced machine algorithms, we’ll become increasingly reliant on what makes humans different.
View the original article on The Australian. Twiddle your thumbs at Benjamin on Twitter(@benjaminchong)
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