As many companies turn to automation to replace repetitive-work employees, they are finding that the strategy creates new jobs for people as their organizations benefit from automating where possible.
The automation survey results emerged from a study by CareerBuilder and Economic Modeling Specialists Intl of more than 2,000 hiring/HR professionals based on information gathered in May. Harris Poll conducted the research.
The study said that, when companies with 500 or more employees were asked whether they had automated jobs, 30 percent said they had. Overall, 21 percent of respondents said they had replaced workers with machines.
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Meantime, 68 percent of those who replaced workers "said their adoption of new technology resulted in new positions being added in their firms," and 35 percent said they actually wound up creating more jobs for their organization following the "deskilling" process.
And automation sometimes failed to improve the situation. "While automation has produced greater efficiencies and output, eliminating the human factor can backfire in some cases," the study said. "Thirty-five percent of firms that deskilled workers said they hired people back because the technology didn't work out."
CareerBuilder and EMSI conducted further research, extracting trends from Bureau of Labor Statistics data on growth and decline of the 786 occupations listed by BLS.
"Since 2002, 257 occupations experienced a decline in employment, roughly one third of all U.S. jobs," the researchers said. "At the same time, 483 occupations (61 percent) grew 1 percent or more. The hourly earnings for the growing occupations were nearly $2 higher than the declining occupations." Automation was credited with having "a significant influence on employment shifts."
Among examples of this phenomenon cited by CareerBuilder/EMSI: Travel agents lost more than 38,000 jobs from 2002 to 2014 as the internet put many out of work, for a 34 percent decline in travel agent jobs during that period. The average travel agent made less than $17 an hour. Meantime, during that period, the number of software developers and web developers in the U.S. increased by 195,000. Such jobs pay an average of $43 per hour. This was a direct impact of people using technology to do their own online travel planning.
"Technological advancements have not only increased productivity, but historically have led to an expansion of employment," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. "While automation may eliminate some jobs, it also creates other jobs that are higher paying and lifts the standard of living for the economy as a whole."
The researchers asked employers whether they thought automation would replace a significant number of jobs in their industries. Nearly a third agreed that would happen. The responses indicated the following industries will feel the greatest impact:
- Customer service – 35 percent
- Information technology – 33 percent
- Accounting/finance – 32 percent
- Assembly/production – 30 percent
- Shipping/distribution – 25 percent
- Sales – 17 percent
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
