Centre for London Report on Automation of Job Sectors in London

The Centre for London, "the capitals dedicated think tank", has released a report analyzing how London's workforce will be impacted by automation and what we can do about it.

The results of their research show that almost a third of jobs in London have a high potential for automation, naming wholesale and retail, transportation and storage and accommodation and food as the most likely sectors to be impacted. 

Read the full report, Human Capital: Disruption, Opportunity and Resilience in London's Workforce,  Here.

"Machine learning and mobile robotics are enabling the automation of ever more complex tasks, though the human skills of creativity, dexterity and social intelligence remain more challenging."

Sectors such as the arts, entertainment, information and communications and finance are predicted by the report to be less impacted by automation, arguably due to the tendency for such fields to be reliant on social skills, which automation is yet to master.

The report goes on to highlight that as the cost of robotics is falling by 10% each year, whilst the cost of London living and pressure for wages goes up. Computerweekly.com predicts that "hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs" will be automated by 2030 due to the evolution of automated technologies against the ever receding public sector budgets. There is the frank fear, discussed in the report as well, that should 'cheap labour' no longer be so cheap, the business case for investment in automation as a substitute will become an ever increasingly appealing option for businesses.

Thus are the public stuck between requiring a living-wage or not working at all?

The automation of work may not always mean the loss of work, with there being scope do only automate repetitive tasks for the employee, thus freeing them to continue other tasks in their job role with more efficiency. The Centre for London report states that the development of machine learning technologies advances "is significant for productivity, employment and daily life."

​Providing that we can enable a multitude of avenues for people to work in their sector along side automated machinery and algorithms, automation in itself will be creating new jobs and maintaining old ones without enabling mass scale job loss; which ultimately harms the economy, public morale and could fuel a backlash on the technology. Not to mention risking putting people into poverty due to there not being work anymore in their skill set.

However some job loss in an automated future is inevitable.

A way to mitigate job losses from automation is to recognize what jobs are less viable for the future and to urgently accommodate this is the education sectors; allow for teaching people the skills for trades of the future and encourage innovative thinking towards these sectors so that they are embraced rather than shunned for their seemingly contemporary nature.

However preparing the next generation for the alteration in job sectors will do little to appease  the more current issues of how to support the people currently within the job sectors that are likely to undergo automation in the near future. There needs to be a secure and thorough plan in place to protect  people who may be negatively impacted by the revolution of automation.

​​The report from the Centre for London is quick to highlight ​​London's economy as "resilient" and is confident that "London's workforce will be able to adapt to change."

"London specialises in sectors that are highly productive, and which have a high proportion of workers in managerial and professional functions. These jobs are less likely to be automated, and London’s relative productivity suggests that an agglomeration “stickiness” will preserve critical mass in the capital, notwithstanding the regulatory and market access challenges posed by Brexit."

To make certain that an automated city/country/world does not generate marginalized people who are unable to economically support themselves and their families due to there not being work left in their skill set, the idea of Universal Basic Income offers support; something which the Centre for London's report also considers in its conclusion. How to convince world leaders to agree on such an concept, is another issue.
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Responding to the Centre for London's report, Daniel Gilbert, CEO of Brainlabs - who temporarily hired Pepper the Robot, (see left side footer of this site), as their receptionist - has said:

"Every sector is different, but the challenge will be similar: anticipate changes in the labour market, and adapt to them now. By embracing automation, rather than resisting it, businesses and individuals have the opportunity to achieve remarkable growth in the next few decades."

The Centre for London report is very thorough in its analysis and data on how the automation of job sectors in London may impact its workers, and although the data may differ, similar results can still be estimated for the same sectors across the UK. 

Automation is happening, and embracing it is the only way for us to thrive along with it.
"Over the next decade, AI won’t replace managers, but managers who use AI will replace those who don’t."

However this accepting and welcoming of a change in the labour times does not mean that we are permitted to disregard those who it will have negative impacts on, in the name of innovation. A thorough and sensitive plan which offers suitable alternative job roles for those who will find themselves displaced due to automation, must be agreed upon and put into action before the automation and job losses occur.

​For any society can only thrive through change as long as the successes do not come at the expense of other peoples lives.