all jobs in 2016

market analyst brian hopkins of forresterresearch predicts that automated systems will eliminate 6% of all jobs in the united statesby 2021. six percent of all jobs is pretty significant. according to the bureau of labor statistics,there are about 144,598,000 jobs in the us today. six percent of that is nearly 8,676,000 jobsthat robots would take from us if general employment rates stay the same. the greedy mechanical jerks. according to the guardian, jobs that are poisedfor automation include truck and taxi drivers

and customer service representatives workingin call centers. and in a related story, it sounds like retailworkers might have some similar issues in the near future. business insider contributor kate taylor writesthat the retail giant walmart has patented an automated system that could potentiallydisplace employees. the company is the largest employer in theunited states -- forbes reported in 2015 that walmart had 2.2 million employees. the patented system sounds a lot like roboticshopping carts. the carts would be able to maneuver throughstores.

customers could summon a cart when they enterthe retail space. the cart would then follow the customer aroundthe store, or even guide customers to specific shelves. after a customer unloads the cart, it couldwhisk itself away to a garage. no longer would you see abandoned shoppingcarts taking up space in a parking lot. beyond these features, the cart might be ableto perform some other tasks, such as moving inventory around, retrieving requested productsand scanning merchandise. these are jobs that human employees wouldtypically perform. so it’s possible these carts could replaceliving, breathing humans.

but it’s also possible that walmart wouldreassign employees to act in customer-facing jobs. this could help cut down on problems the companyhas encountered recently, such as shoplifting or violence in stores. and that’s an important thing to remember-- even if machines eliminate 6% of jobs in the us, we may create more jobs than we lose. it will probably be difficult to transitionpeople from one type of job to another, but not impossible. so perhaps we aren’t quite on the brinkof the robo apocalypse just yet.

on the other hand, that day is coming. ultimately, pretty much every job is destinedto become automated. the ones that will be first to go will berepetitive jobs that are easy to replicate mechanically or digitally. the more complex and variable a job is, themore challenging it is to automate. perhaps we will reach the tipping point injust five years. that’s it for today! if you’ll excuse me, i need to go do somethingthat makes me look busy so that a robo video host doesn’t replace me.

while i do that, you guys should go and subscribeto the howstuffworks now audio podcast and make sure to visit now.howstuffworks.com everyday for the most interesting stories happening right now.

Fahmy Herbals @ 04.23