The automation of factory production will create new job categories, related to IT. What are they?
By replacing human work for predictable repetitive and physical tasks, technological innovations are leading to the development of new skills that require analysis and judgement. They are changing the very nature of many jobs and creating new ones.
Rather than eliminating jobs, however, automation is expected to create more interesting ones in the sector most affected by the upheavals of the fourth industrial revolution. Thanks to the increased productivity caused by technological innovations, the manufacturing sector has posted good performance with respect of jobs. Data collected by the strategy consulting firm McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) in the United States show that job creation in the sector in July 2018 reached a growth rate not seen since 1995.
New job categories
By creating new job categories, automation will drive workers to make substantial changes. According to the MGI, if half of the automation scenarios come to pass, about 15% of all workers will be “displaced” by 2030. Even more, close to one person in ten will hold a job in a category that does not yet exist today!
More and more workers will migrate to these job categories requiring know-how in decision-making from information and data, management and digitization of this data and expertise in analysis. They will have more responsibilities and more complex tasks to effectively manage the “working” robots on the production line. Training and development activities will therefore help to retain workers and even to hire new ones, by adapting them to the new realities.
The workers will be able to perform tasks that have more added value such as problem solving, finding solutions and developing new ideas. These innovations will present many interesting challenges for employees who will feel, according to MGI, more engaged with their employer and in their own career path.