Think your job is safe? Get real.
US distribution giant Walmart has announced it’s sacking 7,000 employees due to increased automation of back-office tasks by using automatic money counters and centralizing other jobs that used to be performed in each retail outlet. The sacked employees had no direct contact with the public, instead carrying out admin tasks, and many of them were long-standing and therefore well paid.
Walmart’s cutbacks are part of what many pundits see as an increasing trend in administration, where many jobs can now be carried out by machines or computer programs managed centrally. The company is not cutting back its activities, and doesn’t intend to reduce the number of people shelf-stacking and checking out purchases. Instead, the target is Walmart’s more privileged employees, those working behind the scenes. But they now find that their jobs are worthless.
How many similar jobs can you think of? How many companies are going to follow Walmart’s example and start thinking seriously about how much money they can save by sacking them? How long will these kinds of jobs exist? How many people do you know who are just waiting for events to catch up with them before they reach retirement age? We’re going to be hearing about a lot more layoffs like Walmart’s, creating more and more serious issues for society. Nowadays, everybody is susceptible to replacement by a machine, not just factory workers, but office staff and all sorts of white collar positions, including human resources. Nobody is safe.
The ever-more-rapid transition to an automated economy, one where anything that can be automated will be automated and where if a job can be done by a robot, it will be, meaning that we will have to redefine the very concept of work, is creating a second industrial revolution that will change our lives and societies for ever. If you think your job or the job you are training for, is safe, then think again and get real.
(En español, aquí)
