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THE ADOPTION OF new digital technologies will slow employment growth and result in the “hypothetical loss” of nearly 50,000 jobs over the next five years.
That is according to a new report from the National Skills Council and the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, which looked at the impact of digitalisation on Ireland’s workforce.
The report said that one in three jobs in Ireland is at “high risk” of being disrupted by new digital technologies, estimating that 46,000 fewer jobs will be created between 2018 and 2023 when compared to projections that don’t take digitalisation into account.
However, the report also said that much of the disruption will result in changes to job roles rather than actual losses.
Additionally, any losses will be offset as the “strong overall growth” predicted for the economy “should generate enough new jobs to replace those lost”.
This is despite a recent scathing fiscal review by the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council that said a slowdown is “inevitable” in the coming years.
The digitisation report added that the majority of sectors in Ireland are expected to employ more people in 2023 than in 2018, with the exception of the real estate and financial services sectors.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show that unemployment fell to a 10-year low of 5.3% last month.
Job risks
The report said that even though digital technology is emerging in many industries as “the major driver for change in occupations”, its adoption has yet to have “any substantial impact on employment levels”.
However, looking ahead it stated that the sectors most at risk from digital transformation are those associated with manual tasks that could be replaced by automation, including agriculture, retail and manufacturing.
It also pointed to jobs in sales and customer services, which could be replaced by chatbots and robotic process automation.
“The current concern is that technology now has the potential to automate many tasks, job roles and even sectors of the economy, particularly in services, where most people in modern economies are employed,” it added.
It is projected in the report that the disruption from digital tech is “unlikely to lead to a sudden fall” in the demand for labour, but will be a gradual process as businesses adapt to changes.
Retail, transport and hospitality were identified as the sectors with the highest proportion of jobs at risk, with nearly a quarter of roles considered to be at “high risk of automation”.
This was followed by agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and construction. At the other end of the scale, the sectors with the lowest risk were IT and public administration, education and healthcare.
Although approximately 46,000 jobs will be “displaced” by 2023, the report claimed that the overall size of the workforce will continue to grow.
Opportunities
The report detailed six “rapidly developing” technologies that will be “critical” to the next wave of digitalisation in the workforce – internet of things, cognitive computing and artificial intelligence, 3D printing, augmented and virtual reality, robotics and blockchain.
However, it also highlighted the opportunities that could arise from an increase in digitalisation, with businesses being able to undertake new activities and staff being able to learn new tasks or roles.
The report added that an increase in the adoption of digital technologies will enable businesses to improve productivity and overcome resource constraints.
One example that was given was the emergence of digital marketing, which has become commonplace over the last decade with the explosion of social media, creating new roles within companies and new businesses entirely.
The report concluded that it is “crucial” for the government to have systems in place to deal with “the scale of the challenge ahead” when it comes to digitalisation but also take advantage of the opportunities that will emerge.
Written by Sarah Harford and posted on Fora.ie
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Unrelenting criticism of Kenny in previous article comments and I for one am sick to death of the constant negativity around this country.
Yes, life is tough and people are really struggling, including myself and my own family, but PLEASE..can we just stop looking backwards and just try..TRY to be a little more positive, just a little. It has to be better than just waiting for an opportunity to attack anyone from the government or the EU, or the banks..or anyone who is doing well in the world.
Please Ireland…can we all just try a little harder..(not to fool ourselves and be blind to the situation), but just to not seem to savour the misery so much.
Ah feck off with yer misplaced optimism will ye
Do you have trouble sitting down?
Colin, Kenny deserves unrelenting criticism. He’s not a good Taoiseach. FG are power-hungry mutters. I guarantee you that about a month before the next General Election the USC or some similar ‘tax/levy’ will be dropped. No right-wing party is remotely interested in its citizens, other than as a means to an end. That end is power, money, affluence and so on. We are mere dots on the landscape – useful dots, easily manipulated.
And i’m not convinced about that “word cloud” either, where the hell is ‘the’? Surely ‘the’ would have been prominant in your word cloud!
Kevin, everything you said about right wing parties can be equally applied to all of our left wing parties too.
Shane,
If you used wordie you would know it has an option to remove commonly used English words so the effect of the word cloud allows the user to see the most commonly used relevant words for (in this case) Endas diatribe
@joe, cheers for the info, although it was a joke
Thanks for proving my point everyone.
Enjoy your misery.
And at home the words were For, Fück, Sake and 2020?.
He might as well have simply said the Rich are doing fine, and good night commoners…. Thats what his speech boiled down to….
Spin doctors hard at work.same old same old.
Personally I just heard a lot of bull sh1t.
Do you know how I know he is lying?
His lips are moving!
He cancelled Christmas but they decided to edit it out
I thought that ” the grinch that stole Christmas” was only a story
Wonder what the new import tax and duties on Santa are going to be?
Probably get announced on Christmas Eve
Santa got a good transport for smuggling tho
Enda and his crew will be out with his sleigh dector…….. ” irish space defence program”
If he doesn’t get a good job in Europe he can go further north cause am sure Santa could use another elf
Hook nosed *ucker bet he dosn’t have to work Christmas Day
Does he work????
I thought he was head volunteer for the big irish charity fund……… Hard at it all day giving help to the poor rich people of Europe
Title of this should be these are the words that came out of endas ass
So the journal won’t let me post a criticism of Kenny, getting duplicate comment report, so it’s not an open forum. Deleting app from phone and will never darken your doors again, yet another outlet controlled by god knows who.
Bye bye
I don’t see 2020 in there.
Irish economic recovery is truly farcical, a country where so many find comfort in welfare and a young population that’s going to burden the state still further, Ireland should wake up to reality.
How is the young population going to be a burden when their only choice for a better life is to leave? I say this as someone who is middle aged who would not wish to be young now. I also know in reality that the future of all older people rests on the young.
he is not my taoiseach anyway…i dont acknowledge him…traitor to money and cronies after everything he prior to election. Fianna gael/Fianna fail/Labour …feed the rich and bury the poor..also doing away with grant to bury the poor !!.. and all u people will vote them in again ..funny old life
Actually John… he IS your Taoiseach!
Will ya give it a break and write about the weather or something !!!!!
Is this what passes for journalism…
Awesome speech. Kenny for president. Gilmore is the man.
hes not…i didnt vote fg…and i left ireland cos of no work..hes ur taoiseach and u can keep him !!
This great man deserves some credit, our greatest ever citizen, all decent people were consumed with pride seeing our great leader. In years to come the Irish greats will be kenny, Gareth fitz, and mick Collins
I would hate to see your list of c*nts
Oh dear,wonder who could this be?
Colin Moore you made very positive comments . “we are all in this together ” ya sure we are
In
How about a poll to see how many people actually watched Chairman Mayo’s speech?
I bet that people who criticize the most are the ones who have never work and are expecting to get more and more from the social or didn’t even vote
No i work and earn 32k a year.I work hard for it as well as investing my money back into education. Increments have been stopped for me for about 5 years now so I am stuck here. Right now I have a toothache and cant afford to go to a dentist, and a fiance who I cant afford to marry.
What happened to free speak ……… The fascists are now removing comments again
Why bother posting when only the ones you approve are allowed stay
have your say