Wednesday 05 January 2022 9:05 am  |  Updated:  Wednesday 05 January 2022 4:35 pm

Tech Special: The jobs, sectors and countries most at risk of automation and robotics in 2022

By: Michiel Willems

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Digital change and automation are driving enormous productivity gains in the world of work.

However, the rapid changes mean many individuals, businesses and even entire nations will be hugely impacted by automation and tech, with some roles and jobs to be replaced by robots altogether.

Many of the industries that are most at risk of seeing jobs being taken over by robotics have over time evolved to an automated process and fall into categories such as administrative tasks and manual labour.  

Pricing platform Small Business Prices analysed a variety of metrics to find the countries most ready for the future due to their use of automation, and which jobs are most at risk. The company shared its findings exclusively with City A.M.

Out of 702 jobs analysed the occupation that ranks the highest for chances of being replaced by automation is telemarketing.

This is followed by title examiners, abstractors, and searchers – roles that involve mainly clerical tasks – in second place and hand-sewers come in as the third most likely to see their job be replaced by automated technology.

According to analysts, there are three aspects to jobs that ensure they are less likely to be affected by the increase of modern technology; those roles that involve genuine creativity, jobs that involve building complex relationships with humans and careers that have a high sense of unpredictability.

The study determines that the job that’s the least likely to be replaced by tech is that of a Recreational Therapist; this is a role that involves the human aspect and complex relationship building which requires emotional skills robots are (not yet) capable of.

The jobs that are second least likely to become fully automated are First-Line Supervisors of Mechanics, Installers, and Repairers, due to the role being highly unpredictable; one will never know when and where an expert in this field will be needed and problems are often nuanced, hence the need for human touch.

Emergency Management Directors are the third least likely to see their bread and butter be taken over by robotics. Given the sensitive nature and nuance of their jobs and again the unpredictability of things such as natural disasters and emergencies, it will remain a human task to delegate back to safety.

South Korea vs Denmark

On average, 74 robots for every 10,000 employees will be performing tasks in the manufacturing industry. South Korea, however, leads the world rankings in terms of implementing robotics in their manufacturing processes: 631 robots per 10,000 human workers in 2016.

This is followed by another Asian nation known for its big technological advancements: Singapore. As of 2016, 488 industrial robots are put in place for every 10,000 employees.

Germany is the third most advanced country in terms of implementing robotics in their production lines with 309 robots per 10,000 people.

Denmark most future-proof

Technological advancement and the automation of various processes aren’t limited to just the workforce; governments also need to ensure they aren’t stuck behind when it comes to automation.

Looking at a variety of factors such as the availability of online services, human capital and the level of telecommunication infrastructure we’ve determined which countries are leading the way and are deemed the most future-proof.

Coming in first is the European government of Denmark, scoring highly for every metric researched such as E-government (electronic government) scoring 0.9758 – with the highest possible score being 1.

This in essence means the utilisation of the Internet, computers, and other digital communications by a government.

Another aspect Denmark scores high on (0.9643) is e-participation, which means many services provided by a government such as administrative purposes and decision-making involve technological advancement.

In second place is the government of a country home to many tech giants; South Korea. The Asian republic scores 0.956 on the e-government index, as well as a full 1 on both the e-participation and online service index.

Third place is for another European government; Estonia. It scores high on all metrics including 0.9941 on the online service index, 0.9266 on the human capital index, and 0.9212 in terms of telecommunication infrastructure. 

The 10 countries with biggest increase in employment

Iran has made big advancements in terms of technological and educational advancement in recent years, which could be a contributing factor to the massive amount of jobs that were created across markets and taken on over the last decade; between 2012 and 2019 the country saw an increase of employment of 29% across all sectors.

Following suit with an increase of an employed population of 27%, is the European country of Lithuania, as well as The Netherlands where employment rates saw an increase of 21% in recent years.

Clerical support workers are roles most likely to become extinct

The industry that has experienced the biggest dip in employment over the past decade is the sector of clerical support workers, which saw a decrease of 13.5 per cent from 2012 to 2019.

According to the research, these are the types of jobs most at risk of dying out. Following are Market-oriented skilled agricultural workers as well as Handicraft and printing workers, which both saw a decrease of employment of 10 per cent.

Other sectors such as sales and agricultural careers have seen no increase in the availability of jobs despite the increase of demand.

Research & development investments

Out of all nations analysed, South Korea by far spends the biggest percentage of their Gross Domestic Product on projects relating to research and development. With 4.1 per cent, this investment is helping the country move forward and keep up with technology to ensure its future-proof, which lines up with the nation being the second-best e-government.

Japan invests the second-biggest amount of their GDP into research and development with 3.4%, followed closely by Switzerland which spends 3.2 per cent on keeping up with technological advancements.