export_ofoct.com

[00:00.42] We're returning to the topic of automation.

[00:03.07] Now last podcast we talked about how jobs were affected more in the manufacturing area, wasn't it Richard?

[00:11.31] Yes, we were talking about the production line and machines doing repetitive jobs in factories, weren't we?

[00:17.15] Yes, and now we want to have a little look at the future and how businesses and jobs are going to be affected.

[00:24.59] The big change, in the past, machines did jobs in the manufacturing sector.

[00:30.17] It looks now as if the future, it will be the service sector jobs that are going to be lost.

[00:35.75] Can you give an example?

[00:37.07] Well, driverless taxi cabs.

[00:40.26] They're going to have taxis with no drivers going around the cities and this is actually happening now.

[00:46.64] For instance, in Australia, we've got huge mines and they have the robots doing all the drilling.

[00:53.54] They've got driverless trucks and driverless trains.

[00:58.06] So there's hardly anyone in the mine at all.

[01:00.45] So in the near future, more regular driving jobs could be lost.

[01:05.50] Yes, but also more interestingly is that even today,

[01:10.01] 30% of time spent in the workplace in the United States is spent collecting and processing data.

[01:19.57] And so therefore, a lot of jobs in the insurance industry, the finance industry, they could be in jeopardy.

[01:29.67] OK, I can understand that because they receive lots of data.

[01:33.12] I mean, not unlike playing chess or something.

[01:36.04] And then they have to decide what's the best thing to do.

[01:39.50] But robots can do that. Exactly.

[01:41.89] The computers can do the number crunching and come out with the answers.

[01:45.87] Right. Yes, so that means that we have computers now in insurance industries calculating credit scores and even managing stock portfolios.

[01:55.70] So when we have the situation of blue-collar jobs disappearing, we've now got, you know, the future is almost that white-collar jobs are disappearing.

[02:04.20] It's often a lot of the highly-paid jobs are just as much at risk as the low-paid jobs.

[02:10.31] Can you give an example, though, Richard, of jobs that won't be affected by automation?

[02:16.95] Yes. The things that machines can't do very well require a high degree of flexibility and physical adaptability and human interaction.

[02:28.64] And creativity. Exactly.

[02:31.29] So the jobs that shouldn't be at risk are in health care, dentists, doctors, surgeons.

[02:39.79] Teachers. And also in the education industry, teachers, social workers, psychologists, those sorts of things. Right.

[02:46.97] OK. Oh, good news for us then. Yes.

[02:49.62] Yes. So the nature of work is changing, isn't it?

[02:54.14] A lot of jobs are disappearing.

[02:55.73] So it's very important for people, therefore, possibly to be retrained.

[03:00.51] So what about you, the listener?

[03:02.63] Are you worried about losing your job because of automation?

[03:05.82] Are you thinking about retraining?

[03:08.75] Or perhaps even you're doing a job caused by automation.

[03:13.26] We'd love to hear from you.