50% of Japanese jobs replaced by robots by 2035?

The Motherboard site spoke with Yumi Wakao, a researcher at the Nomura Research Institute. The scientist says nearly 50% of jobs in Japan could be replaced by robots within the next 20 years.

It’s a scary figure. Researchers at the Nomura Research Institute have calculated that up to 49% of Japanese jobs could be done by robots in the next ten to twenty years. “We did the same kind of analysis in Japan as Professor Michael Osborne of the University of Oxford did in the United Kingdom and the United States,” said Yumi Wakao, researcher at the Nomura Research Institute (NRI), to journalists on the Motherboard site “We found that up to 49 percent of jobs could be replaced by computer systems. However, this is only a hypothetical technical calculation, it does not take into account social factors. "

In a new report released by NRI on Wednesday, researchers looked at 601 jobs in collaboration with researchers from the University of Oxford. Jobs that require creativity, compassion, and analysis of abstract thoughts would not be so easy to replace. Rather logical. "Due to a shrinking population, labor shortages are forecast for Japan. We are looking at the social repercussions of trying to preserve the job market by the introduction of artificial intelligence “, Write the researchers in their report.

Automation of employment

They assessed the likelihood of each job being automated, using a computer algorithm to analyze how creative it was. Researchers predict that creative jobs are better for humans, while robots will be better at repetitive tasks. The report concludes that in Japan, up to 49 percent of jobs could be automated. The same earlier research in the UK found around 35%. The main jobs that are at stake are the regulars at this kind of outcome, namely taxi drivers, data-entry style office jobs, security guards and receptionists.

However, all is not lost "Service jobs that require creativity, communication, empathy, or negotiation will be difficult to replace with informatisation ”said Wakao. "In the report, the researchers note that the Japanese are good at jobs in these industries, and that if other sectors could be automated, it would free more people to do such jobs." So the argument would be that robots take on our menial jobs, to allow us to embrace more creative sectors. However, Wakao noted that there would still be a need for adequate infrastructure in place to promote skills development in these areas. So it's not all over yet.

Conclusions which more or less join the theories of certain economists on employment, explained in our file devoted to the subject.

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