In 2019 we were pleased to partner with
EMSI as our Group-wide provider of
market intelligence, data and insight to
better inform our understanding of labour
markets, skills demand, job prosperity
and regional / geographic demographic
variances. The intelligence we gain from
EMSI’s insights has benefitted many of our
clients as we navigate hiring demand and
ensure we continue to identify and place
the best talent.
EMSI produce a lot of thought leadership to share their
findings and we are pleased to share here a snapshot of
the findings from their latest white paper, Autonation.
\The report has highlighted a number of important
issues connected with how we should be thinking
about automation, including what it might mean as far
as occupations, industries and local economies are
concerned, and how data can be used to prepare for what
might lie ahead. Here are the ten main takeaway points,
hover over each point for a closer look at each point.
The scenarios of automation leading to almost unlimited
leisure or mass unemployment are both unlikely. Periods of
technoloical upheaval have always tended to attract such
predictions, yet history shows that the effects are seen more
in a transformation of the way we work, rather than in the
abolition of work itself.
When people think about automation, more often than not
their thoughts turn to robots. Yet robotics is only a very small
part of automation. For the most part, automation is
simply the harnessing of new technology and new ways of
organisation to do more work with less human input.
Given that automation can help businesses do more with less,
it has a crucial part to play in increasing levels of producitivty,
both at the national level, which has stagnated in recent years,
and in local economies where it is currently low.
Concerns that using automation to increase producitivty will
lead to job losses are not borne out by data. Growth in capital
stock over the last few decades has been accompanied by
increases in both output and employment.
This historic data tends to confirm that the labour market will
function to get the labour force into work for a given level
of technology. In other words, if the labour is there and the
automated tehcnology is there - both will be used.
The widespread belief that automation replaces jobs is for the
most part, not the case. Automation tends to replace tasks,
not whole jobs, making it easier for workers to do more, and
also creating the potential for new work.
Recent years have seen a big decline in the use of physical
skills in jobs, whilst analytical and interpersonal skills have
grown massively. This has been true across all types of jobs,
including those that have the biggest share of physical skills.
High exposure to automation does not necessarily imply a
job or industry is under threat. Rather it could equally well be
viewed as an opportunity to increase productivity by investing
in automating those high exposure tasks to enable businesses
to do more with less.
Local economic data can be used to highlight not only the
general exposure to automation in an area, but also the
exposure in the more specific details such as industry clusters
and occupations.
Decision makers in education, economic development and
business can prepare for automation in a number of ways.
This includes becoming better acquainted with the data on
automation exposure; a greater focus on lifelong learning
and upskilling; and a more joined up approach between skills
supply and skills demand using the common language of data.