Automation

How Many Jobs Will Be Lost to Automation by 2030?

Published on: April 23, 2023
Last Updated: April 23, 2023

How Many Jobs Will Be Lost to Automation by 2030?

Published on: April 23, 2023
Last Updated: April 23, 2023

Quick Answer 🔍

How many jobs will be lost to automation?

An estimated 85 million jobs in the United States will be replaced by AI, machines, and robots by 2030.

Have you ever been to any Amazon Go store?

What have you noticed?

There is no cashier on the counter!

No need for the usual queue and Visa tap to checkout your items. Your bill will automatically go to your Amazon Go account and free to go with your goodies. 

The future of the workforce will eliminate many job positions, but the question is, are you ready for this?

Let’s find out how many jobs will be lost to automation to help us prepare better for what’s to come. 

How Many Jobs Will Be Lost to Automation by 2030?

Automation

Now, for the million-dollar question: how many jobs will be lost to automation in the future?

Recent estimates show 85 million jobs in the U.S. will be replaced by AI, machines, and robots by 2030. 

By 2025, only 53% of the world’s entire jobs will be fulfilled by humans. The rest of the 47% will be left to machines.

This is a sharp drop from the 2020 data where people held 67% of all job functions globally, and only 33% are automated. 

Top Skills to Learn

Knowing how many jobs will be lost to automation, it is important to upskill and reskill to stay relevant in the future of the workforce. 

Below is a piece of information from the World Economic Forum on the Top 10 Skills in demand by 2025.

  1. Analytical thinking and innovation skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  2. Active learning and mastering learning strategies skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  3. Problem-solving skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  4. Critical thinking and analytical skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  5. Creative skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  6. Leadership and social influence skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  7. Technological skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  8. Design and programming skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  9. Resilience, flexibility, and tolerance skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025
  10. Reasoning and ideation skills will be among the most in-demand skills by 2025

Jobs with Growing Demand 

Meanwhile, 97 million jobs are fixated on some of the in-demand skills today.

Here are some of the job functions with the highest demand according to the same World Economic Forum report. 

  1. Data analysts and scientists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  2. Artificial intelligence and machine learning specialists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  3. Big data specialists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  4. Digital marketing and strategy specialists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  5. Process automation specialists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  6. Business development professionals will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  7. Digital transformation specialists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  8. Information security analysts will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  9. Software and application developers will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025
  10. Internet of Things specialists will be among the most in-demand job positions by 2025

Growing Number of Industrial Robot Installations

Human capital is more likely to be replaced by industrial robots. This holds true especially for labor-intensive work such as in service and manufacturing. 

The increasing reliance on robots reflects such a change in preference.

Take a look at the number of industrial robot installations from 2015 to 2021. 

  • 2015 – 254,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year
  • 2016 – 304,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year
  • 2017 – 400,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year
  • 2018 – 423,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year
  • 2019 – 391,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year
  • 2020 – 394,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year
  • 2021 – 517,000 new industrial robots have been installed globally during the year

As you can see from the data above, the number of industrial robot installation hit record high in 2021. The pandemic hastened our transition to greater digitization, thus putting automation in the spotlight.

Industrial Robot Installation by Country

More robots in a country means lesser job vacancies for human participants.

Here are the countries with the highest number of industrial robot installations in 2021, giving our readers a glimpse on how many jobs will be lost to automation in each location in the future. 

  • China – 268,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • Japan – 47,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • United States – 35,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • South Korea – 31,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • Germany – close to 24,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • Taiwan – close to 10,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • France – close to 6,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • Mexico – 5,400 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021
  • India – close to 5,000 industrial robots have been installed in the country in 2021

Switching Occupational Categories Due to Automation

Automation

According to a data from mckinsey.com, 375 million workers globally will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030 due to automation. 

Here is the total number of people who will be affected by such a shift in every country.

  • United States – between 16 million to 54 million people in the country will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030
  • Germany – between 3 million to 12 million people in the country will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030
  • Japan – between 11 million to 27 million people in the country will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030
  • China – between 12 million to 102 million people in the country will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030
  • India – between 3 million to 38 million people in the country will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030
  • Mexico – between 1 million to 7 million people in the country will need to switch occupational categories between 2016 to 2030

Conclusion

At a time when artificial intelligence, machines, and robots can function as much as humans can, it is so important to upskill and reskill to stay relevant in the future of workforce. 

85 million – that is how many jobs will be lost to automation by 2030.

Such a number will keep growing as global digitization takes hold. 

Sources

WeForumZippiaMcKinsey
TechjuryForbesForrester
GAO

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Written by Kelly Indah

I’m a statistics researcher here at EarthWeb with a special interest in privacy, tech, diversity, equality and human rights. I have a master’s degree in Computer Science and I have my Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification.