In the debate about how future employment will look like, this The Conversation post takes a clear side: ‘Don’t fear a ‘robot apocalypse’ – tomorrow’s digital jobs will be more satisfying and higher-paid‘.
Based on research, the authors have found that “workers in occupations that rank higher in IT intensity earn more than demographically similar peers in other occupations – and that this earnings gap has been growing.” – and that the wage gap is more related to IT intensity than actual study level. Also, the authors have found that “jobs that require greater interaction with technology tended to score higher in quality, particularly in terms of measures like career advancement.”
This paper seems to me quite biased and carry actually the inverse conclusion of its title. One can expect that of course, people will advanced IT skills will be quite well compensated and will have high job satisfaction in a more automated future. But this only serves to prove that the gap between this new elite and the rest of the population will increase. It does not address the fate of the employees which job can be easily automated and delegated to robots, or who do not have the right IT proficiency.
Increasing the IT proficiency across the young generation is certainly a priority. Making sure IA does not upend our society is another that needs to be deeply understood.
