9%

This is a percentage of working places that are under a threat to be reduced because of automation in the USA.

These data was presented by IZA Institute of Labor Economics director Hilmar Schneider at the Analytics for Management and Economics Conference. Professor Schneider highlighted that there is no need to be afraid of digital transformation and global changes in the labor market.

Technical progress has always been a source of prosperity and growth, but nowadays it is often perceived as a working place killer. In 2013 scholars from Oxford Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne announced, that 47% of working places in the USA are under a threat of automation. However, so far, technological progress has been helping people to find a job, and I have no reason to believe that something should change in the future. According to another research, there are just 12% and 9% of working places in Germany and the USA respectively which are under a threat to be reduced. Now we can say with great confidence, that the number of job positions will not decrease, but the work itself will be changing. The more routine operations are performed by machines, the more the world requires creativity, cognitive skills and social interaction, which only a human can have.

Hilmar Schneider
Director of Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)