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New research by job site Indeed suggests that millennials’ career choices give them the best chance of adapting as technology transforms the world of work.
The analysis – which compared the online job search patterns of millions of UK jobseekers over the six months to March – found that younger people (ages 20–36) are substantially more likely to choose roles deemed to be at lower risk of automation.
However, while nearly half of millennials (48%) were searching for what economists term ‘non-routine’ roles, the data revealed that 61.1% of baby boomers (ages 53–71) were looking for ‘routine’ jobs.
Routine jobs – which include sales, admin, transport and construction roles – are seen as being at higher risk of automation than non-routine work, which includes management, professional and service roles. Economists regard routine jobs as the most prone to automation because they tend to involve high levels of repetition – which machines can master more easily than roles which focus on human interaction and behaviour.
Mariano Mamertino, EMEA economist at Indeed, commented: “Automation in the workplace is understandably a sensitive subject for many people. Technology continues to reshape not just the way we work but also the number and type of jobs that are available.
“Of course, no generation of jobseekers is completely doomed. Automation is a process, not a single event, and technological progress is going to impact different occupations at different times.
“Disappearing jobs can be a frightening concept and it’s impossible to know exactly which jobs are ‘safe’ — but everyone can prepare for the future by building up transferable, non-routine skills that can be applied across a wide array of occupations.”
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