Robots will take old jobs off humans and give them new ones, says World Economic Forum

A new study by the World Economic Forum has found that robots might take millions of jobs off humans, but those jobs will be replaced with better-paying ones.

WEF conducted the detailed study in partnership with the Boston Consulting Group. Their findings strongly point to a future in which human workers will be increasingly retrained.

This type of activity – learning new skills – is already part of the current economic scenario as companies always look to compete, but robots will accelerate this trend. 

What is really required, says WEF in its report Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All, is advice about the areas in which reskilling will be required.

Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of WEF, says: For companies, reskilling and upskilling strategies will be critical if they are to find the talent they need and to contribute to socially responsible approaches to the future of work.

“For policy-makers, reskilling and retraining the existing workforce are essential levers to fuel future economic growth, enhance societal resilience in the face of technological change and pave the way for future-ready education systems for the next generation of workers.”

Schwab adds: “while there has been much forecasting on transformations in labor markets, few practical approaches exist to identify reskilling and job transition opportunities.

“This report provides a valuable new tool that will help individual workers, companies, and governments to prioritize their actions and investments.

“Towards a Reskilling Revolution: A Future of Jobs for All introduces a new approach to identifying reskilling and job transition opportunities, including those that might not be immediately apparent.

“Using big data analysis of online job postings, the methodology in this report demonstrates the power of a data-driven approach to discover reskilling pathways and job transition opportunities.”