Why robots WON'T take your jobs: Experts reveal how Australian workers can look forward to higher wages AND lower unemployment - and the new skills you need to climb the ladder
- Deloitte Access Economics compiled report on the future of Australian work
- The economist authors predicted technology would create more skilled jobs
- They forecast 86% of new jobs from now to 2030 would be knowledge based
Robots are unlikely to threaten Australian jobs, with workers expected to enjoy higher wages and lower unemployment during the next decade, economists predict.
Far from displacing workers and perpetuating an insecure gig economy, technology is more likely to increase demand for creative 'work of the heart', a Deloitte Access Economics report found.
'The Path To Prosperity: Why the future of work is human' paper debunked the theory robots would take jobs and push up unemployment, arguing predictions about machines taking jobs had been around since the 16th century.
It also urged today's office workers wanting to succeed needed to develop interpersonal and creative skills, which women had traditionally been better at, as technical jobs replaced old-fashioned manual jobs.
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Robots are unlikely to threaten jobs with Australian workers expected to enjoy higher wages and lower unemployment during the next decade, economists predict (pictured is Perth company Fastbrick Robotics Limited's automated bricklaying machine)
The report authors predicted that 86 per cent of jobs created between now and 2030 would in fact be technical or skilled jobs, often requiring a degree or specialised knowledge, which would lead to an 'uplift in wages'.
While technology had replaced manual and repetitive jobs, and would continue to do so, most of the work created during the past two decades had been non-routine work that favoured thinking capabilities.
Women, in particular, had benefited, from roles requiring 'interpersonal and creative' skills in an office that had not traditionally been the domain of male-dominated, manual work.
'The existing female workforce is in the right place at the right time to benefit from these changes,' it said.
'To meet the needs of the future, however, all employees will need to build skills and capabilities that have traditionally been the domain of women.'
Despite the rapid pace of technological change since the advent of the internet 25 years ago, Australia's unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent is almost half of what it was in 1994.
Far from displacing workers and perpetuating an insecure gig economy, technology is more likely to increase demand for creative 'work of the heart', a Deloitte Access Economics report found (pictured is a stock image of a man and two women working on a project)
Australians are also staying in their jobs longer than ever with 45 per cent of workers with the same employer for five years or more.
'The gig economy isn't taking over: casual jobs are a smaller share of all jobs than two decades ago and that share hasn't budged in over a decade,' the report said.
Technology was also unlikely to see more people work from home or away from the office.
'That's because physical proximity to other creative people is becoming more important, not less,' the report said.
'Working together helps us collaborate and socialise, as well as giving us infrastructure and support.
'So the office is not going away any time soon.'
Last year, Perth-based technology company Fastbrick Robotics Limited developed a world-first robot that could build a three-bedroom house in just three days.
The autonomous bricklaying machine assembled a 180-square-metre home with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Fastbrick Robotics chief executive Mike Pivac said it took 24 years of work to create a machine that could build a house in 72 hours.
It also urged today's office workers wanting to succeed needed to develop interpersonal and creative skills, which women had traditionally been better at, as technical jobs replaced old-fashioned manual jobs (pictured is a woman using a belt sander)
