Technology jobs risk

How is technology putting jobs at risk?

In our latest study, we asked 900 professionals across several industries and countries if they believed their job was being threatened by technological improvements.


Results show that financial services professionals are feeling the heat the most, while those leading the technological disruption, ie. engineers and computer science graduates, feel safe.


Degree Yes No
No Degree 18% 82%
Masters in Science 22% 78%
Bachelor of Science 29% 71%
Masters in Management 30% 70%
MBA 30% 70%
Bachelor of Arts 38% 62%
Masters in Finance 40% 60%


No degree, no worries. Those without a university degree are the least concerned about losing their job to technology. Jobs which require little formal education rarely involve a daily use of hi-tech tools, and the relatively low cost of those employees does not create an incentive for employers to develop technological tools to replace them.


MajorYesNo
Computer Sciences15%85%
Marketing & Communication18%82%
Engineering24%76%
Law27%73%
Mathematics & Statistics31%69%
Business & Finance38%62%
Management & Strategy39%61%
Economics
42%58%

Master technology or stay away from it. Engineering & computer sciences graduates feel that being at the core of technological innovations protects them from being replaced by machines. Employees with degrees in communication or law also believe they are relatively safe, probably because their jobs entail 'soft' human skills which cannot yet adequately be replaced by artificial intelligence.


Don't stay in the middle of the road! Those employees whose skills rely heavily on technological tools but are not involved in their creation or maintenance, ie. economy and business graduates, clearly believe their jobs are highly at risk (42% of economics graduates and 38% of business & finance graduates).


JobYesNo
Financial Services47%53%
Compliance37%63%
Sales33%67%
Finance Control29%71%
Professional Services24%76%
IT20%80%
Executive Management19%81%
Project Management19%81%
Marketing & Communications18%82%
Logistics & Purchasing17%83%
Human Resources15%85%
Engineering14%86%

Banking 2.0 Financial services workers are the most concerned about their jobs being at risk due to technological innovation. Ever-increasing automated processes such as trading algorithms, machine learning and automated trading platforms are often singled out as being responsible for thousands of job cuts occurring in the sector, as banks seek to boost profitability in challenging market conditions, and are likely to cause many redundancies within the next decades.


CountryYesNo
Singapore49%51%
India48%52%
Switzerland44%56%
Hong Kong32%68%
USA30%70%
Netherlands29%71%
UK24%76%
France23%77%
Ireland20%80%
Italy17%83%

Outsourcing today, automation tomorrow? Outsourcing is often seen as a stepping stone to automation. As a leading outsourcing hub, Indian employees are highly concerned and aware of this phenomenon with 48% of Indian workers thinking their job is at risk.


Technological improvement: a banker's concern? Singaporeans and Swiss employees also largely think their jobs are threatened by technology in our sample, a pattern largely driven by the fact that the majority in the survey come from the financial sector.


No room for Technophobes. Long gone are the days when banks used to hire a majority of humanities graduates. Jobs in the financial sector are becoming more and more technical: employees are expected to control or at least understand the technological automated processes necessary to fulfilling their professional tasks. While some functions still require a human touch, none are unscathed with even sales jobs being obliterated by efficient machines.

 

Emolument provides bonus and salary statistics based on data submitted directly by professionals like you. It is free, anonymous, and already a trusted tool for thousands of professionals worldwide. Are you paid enough? Click here to find out now.


Are you an employer?

Hire and retain the best talent with accurate and reliable data

Benchmark Your Teams

 


Know what you're worth

Compare your compensation with peers in your industry

 





Back to Top