How to Survive the Robocalypse

In the debate about the impact of automation and robotics on the future of work, there is often a reductive push toward a Robocalypse, in which machines take all of the jobs. While a total displacement of humans is unlikely, a number of different types of jobs face an existential threat. This is typically low-skill, low-education, and low-income work that often includes significant manual labor and predictively repetitive tasks.

According to a recent report by the McKinsey Global Institute, some sectors, such as manufacturing and transportation, have high technical potential for automation. But other sectors, such as education, management, professionals, information and health care, have much lower automation potential. In other words, Robocalypse is a much lower risk for educated workers.