Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
How automation could transform the labor force over the next decade
How automation could transform the labor force over the next decade
Jan 15, 2026 9:11 PM

Over the next decade, automation will increase, changing the nature of the way we work. While this will lead to more jobs in the long-run it could also lead to an occupational shift on a scale not seen since the transition of the labor force out of agriculture in the early 1900s in the United States and Europe.

Those are some of the findings ina new report by the McKinsey Global Institute.Here are some of the highlights from the study:

Automation will affect many workers—but few jobs can be fully automated

Almost half of work activities people are paid to do globally could theoretically be automated using currently demonstrated technologies. In about 60 percent of occupations, at least one-third of the constituent activities could be automated, implying substantial workplace transformations and changes for all workers. Very few occupations—less than 5 percent—consist of activities that can be fully automated.

Automation will affect some jobs more than others—but even those jobs aren’t likely to disappear

Jobs that require physical labor in predictable environments (such as operating machinery) are more susceptible to automation. The same is routine tasks such as preparing fast food or processing data. As the report notes, this could displace large amounts of labor in areas such as mortgage origination, paralegal work, accounting, and back-office transaction processing. While the number of jobs may decline in industries especially prone to automation, they will likely still exist and merely involve different tasks.

Relatively low-paying jobs in unpredictable environments are less susceptible

Occupations such as gardeners, plumbers, or providers of child- and eldercare will generally see less automation by 2030, because they are technically difficult to automate and mand relatively lower wages.

Many jobs and industries are expected to increase

The report notes several industries that are expected to have job growth net of automation:

healthcare providersprofessionals such as engineers, scientists, accountants, and analystsIT professionals and other technology specialistsmanagers and executives, whose work cannot easily be replaced by machineseducators, especially in emerging economies with young populations“creatives,” a small but growing category of artists, performers, and entertainers who will be in demand as rising es create more demand for leisure and recreationbuilders and related professions, particularly in the scenario that involves higher investments in infrastructure and buildingsmanual and service jobs in unpredictable environments, such as home-health aides and gardeners

Many people around the globe will need to change occupations

The report estimates that between 400 million and 800 million individuals could be displaced by automation and need to find new jobs by 2030 around the world, based on our midpoint and most rapid automation adoption scenarios. Up to one-third of the 2030 workforce in the United States may need to switch jobs or industries.

The shift could be on a scale not seen since the transition of the labor force out of agriculture in the early 1900s in the United States and Europe, and more recently in in China.

There should still be enough work for everyone

The report notes that If history is any guide, we could also expect that 8 to 9 percent of 2030 labor demand will be in new types of occupations that have not existed before.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
‘Casino capitalism’ or personal failure?
Two weeks ago, French bank Société Générale announced that off-balance sheet speculation by a single “rogue trader” had cost pany 4.9 billion Euros ($7.2 billion). The scandal had enormous repercussions in international markets leading mentators to decry the rotten nature of global “casino” capitalism and to call for the reversal of financial liberalization. However, the actual circumstances of the case do not justify more government intervention in financial markets but illustrate individual moral failings and poor internal governance on behalf...
Knowing the Gardener II – abiding and bearing fruit
Knowing the Gardener was a look at the “big picture” distinguishing God’s intent for Christian creation care from the rest of environmentalism. But I must tell you friends, there’s a huge pitfall out there to avoid. It’s a pit God’s been tirelessly digging me out of for some time now. Paul points to it in Romans 8: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit…...
Question: Which blog is best?
Help Acton do well in the 2008 Blogger’s Choice Awards by submitting a vote or two for Acton. We’re nominated in the following categories (you may vote for Acton in each if you’d like or if you feel we deserve it): • Best Blog Design • Best Religion Blog • Best Charity Blog Voting for a blog does require registration, but it doesn’t take long to do. I’ll occasionally post reminders about this here so that those of you who...
Global warming consensus alert: New, shocking data!
It’s been a while since we’ve had a GWCW update, so here are links to a couple of articles I just ran across at Watts Up With That: RSS Satellite data for Jan08: 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 yearsArctic sea ice back to its previous level, bears safe; film at 11 That second post is especially interesting considering the breathless media reports about endangered polar bears in danger of drowning as the ice melts from under their...
February Acton Notes
A new Acton Notes is now available online. Acton Notes is a monthly newsletter published by the Acton Institute. This month’s issue features an article by Rev. Robert Sirico, president of the Acton Institute, about Socialism. Rev. Sirico points out a couple of ways in which to confront those who mistakenly hold to the fashionable ideology. If a person identifies with the idea mon ownership of the means of production, point out that this is impossible because you hold no...
Economists are people too
In any period of economic transition there are upheavals at various levels, and winners and losers (at least in the short term). We live in just such an age today in North America, as we move from an industrial to a post-industrial information and service economy, from isolationism to increased globalization. There’s no doubt that there have been some industries and regions that have been more directly affected than others (both positively and negatively). Michigan, for example, has been one...
Enterprise and the end of poverty
William Easterly, author of The White Man’s Burden has an interesting piece in the Wall Street Journal today where he responds to Bill Gates’ call for “creative capitalism” Gates argues that the way capitalism is practiced it doesn’t help the poor and argues for increased philanthropy on the part of businesses. Easterly points out that : Profit-motivated capitalism, on the other hand, has done wonders for poor workers. Self-interested capitalist factory owners buy machines that increase production, and thus profits....
Campaigning for state involvement in education
I came across a troubling essay in this month’s issue of Grand Rapids Family Magazine. In her “Taking Notes” column, Associate Publisher/Editor Carole Valade takes up the question of “family values” in the context of the primary campaign season. She writes, The most important “traditional values” and “family values” amount to one thing: a great education for our children. Education is called “the great equalizer”: It is imperative for our children to be able pete on a “global scale” for...
Oh, what might have been!
From a review in the New Yorker magazine (HT) of David Levering Lewis, God’s Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215, in which the author clearly regrets that the Arabs did not go on to conquer the rest of Europe. The halting of their advance was instrumental, he writes, in creating “an economically retarded, balkanized, and fratricidal Europe that . . . made virtues out of hereditary aristocracy, persecutory religious intolerance, cultural particularism, and perpetual war.” It...
Andrew Klavan on Hollywood’s anti-Americanism
One of my biggest disappointments in seminary was learning that there were some members of the faculty and student body who saw little redeeming value in the American experience. Patriotism was seen as somehow anti-Christian or fervent nationalism by some, and love of country was supposed to be understood as idolatry. I address a few of the issues at seminary in a blog post of mine “Combat and Conversion.” Often people who articulated this view would explain how patriots are...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved