Around 1.5 million people in England are at high risk of losing their job to automation – and women are most at risk – according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The ONS analysed the roles of 20 million people and concluded 7.4% of these were at risk of being automated and potentially replaced by computer programs, algorithms or robots. Women had a 70% chance of losing jobs to automation, followed by part-timers and young employees.
Although the probability of automation cited in the ONS’ analysis is lower than that quoted by academics Frey and Osborne, which suggested as many as 35% of jobs in the UK would be at high risk of being automated, the proportion of jobs at low and medium risk of automation has risen.
The three occupations most likely to be lost to automation are waiting staff, shelf fillers and elementary sales occupations. Least likely to be replaced are medical practitioners, higher education teaching professionals and other senior education professionals.
HR managers and directors had a 28% chance “of some or all of the duties and tasks in this role being automated”, according to the ONS. However, there was a 58% risk of administrative roles in HR being automated, putting those roles in the “medium risk” category.
The ONS insisted that it was not a case of “robots taking over”, but rather a case of them being used for routine and repetitive tasks that can be done more quickly via an algorithm or machine designed for a specific function.
Jane Fielding, employment partner at law firm Gowling WLG, said that the report was “worrying” from a diversity perspective.
Liz Hall