Report warns half of all Scots jobs to be automated by 2030
8 May 2017
Nearly one in two jobs in Scotland are at risk of automation by the end of the next decade, suggests a new report by the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR).
The Scotland Skills 2030 document suggests that, at the same time, a significantly higher proportion of people will be employed in “multiple jobs, with multiple employers, in multiple careers.
“Over 2.5 million adults of working age in Scotland today (nearly 80%) will still be of working age by 2030,” it stated.
Too many employers are pursuing a low-skilled business model
IPPR
“At the same time, over 46% of jobs (1.2 million) in Scotland are at high risk of automation. We will therefore need a skills system ready to work with people throughout their careers.”
While the problems cited are common to the UK economy as a whole and qualification levels are higher in Scotland, the IPPR notes that the country continues to have lower rates of productivity and pay.
It recommends the creation of a new Open Institute of Technology in Scotland that can provide the framework for flexible, life-long career learning and workplace training.
It concludes: “While there are gaps in the publicly-funded skills system, these do not seem to be being plugged by employers themselves. Investment in training by employers has dropped in recent years across the UK, and too many employers are pursuing a low-skilled business model.”
The IPPR noted that high-skilled workers are twice as likely to receive investment in skills as their low-skilled colleagues.
