SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) CEO has warned that some people’s jobs are at risk from automation. What can be done about that?
SEEK is an online employment business that matches job seekers and employers together. It is also used by hiring agencies to build a portfolio of candidates. SEEK operates in a list of countries including Australia, New Zealand and China. SEEK also offers online education services and volunteering opportunities for not-for-profits.
What’s Going To Happen With Automation?
Automation is one of the most talked about and controversial topics in our modern society.
Some say automation will be the key to become some kind of utopia society, whereas others believe it will lead to a have and have-not society where few people have jobs and the people that own the robots reap all the rewards.
Technology has been evolving for hundreds of years. Agriculture advancements meant a lot of the male population wasn’t need to tend the land and instead could carry out various other roles.
The question is: what’s going to happen next?
Automation is already here in some ways. Look at supermarkets Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) and Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL), those self checkouts mean there’s a couple less people working on the registers at any one time.
Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) is dramatically reducing the amount of time (and people) needed to carry out the bookkeeping & accounting to finish the financials and tax returns.
There is also a big question mark about what’s going to happen when automated cars and trucks are on the road. Will all truck drivers, postage delivery people, food delivery people, taxi drivers and so on lose their jobs?
The Australian Financial Review has quoted SEEK Limited (ASX: SEK) CEO Andrew Bassat saying that automation is hollowing out the middle management jobs:
“We see plenty of demand for high-end jobs on the website. You can’t find enough people to fill data scientist or engineers roles, which are paid very well and the salaries are going up. We’re also seeing an abundance of advertisements for lots of lower-skilled jobs like services and cleaning.
“My theory, and I hope I’m wrong, is that once there is a downturn there will be a justification to automate roles rather than re-hire people.”
Society has always invested in tools and equipment to improve the efficiency of workers. Think how much better it is in general for a tradie to have power tools compared to hand tools. You don’t want things to be slower on purpose.
What To Do About It?
Aside from making sure you’re always employable by investing in yourself with skills and qualifications, I think the best thing to do could be to invest in businesses doing the automating to benefit from that.
Two of the growth shares in the FREE report below are also some of the best technology shares on the ASX and worth considering.
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