The jobs the WEF expects to be lost to machines by 2025

Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence will lead to a net increase in jobs over the next five years but the coronavirus pandemic will result in “double-disruption” for workers, according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). In a report published Wednesday, the organization said that the rise of machines and automation would eliminate a huge 85 million jobs by 2025. But at the same time, the WEF expects 97 million new jobs to be created, meaning an overall addition of 12 million jobs.

The institution expects work to be divided equally among humans and machines by 2025, with computers handling much of the heavy lifting with respect to data processing, administrative tasks and routine manual jobs for white and blue collar workers. That will require a significant level of “reskilling” and “upskilling” from employers to ensure staff are sufficiently equipped for the future of work. According to the WEF, half of all employees will need some level of retraining in the next five years.

The WEF highlighted the rapid shift to remote work that came about in the spring as the health crisis led companies to close their offices. It said employers could move as much as 44% of their workforce to operate remotely but added 78% of business leaders expect current ways of working to negatively impact productivity as some industries struggle to adapt.

These are the jobs the WEF expects to be lost to machines by 2025:
Data entry clerks
Administrative and executive secretaries
Accounting, bookkeeping and payroll clerks
Accountants and auditors
Assembly and factory workers
Business services and administration managers
Client information and customer service workers
General and operations managers
Mechanics and machinery repairers
Material-recording and stock-keeping clerks

And here are the new roles expected to face growing demand:
Data analysts and scientists
AI and machine learning specialists
Big data specialists
Digital marketing and strategy specialists
Process automation specialists
Business development professionals
Digital transformation specialists
Information security analysts
Software and applications developers
Internet of things specialists

WEF says machines will create more jobs than they destroy but warns of pandemic ‘double-disruption’, CNBC, Oct 21