This is evident from The Skills Revolution 2.0, a global study by ManpowerGroup on the effects of automation in the current digital age among 19,718 employers, including those from the Netherlands.
Of all jobs, employers expect administrative positions to decline the most in the next two years due to the growing impact of automation (-7 percent).
Significant increase expected in the number of IT positions
In contrast, employers expect a significant increase in the number of IT positions (+9 percent) and customer contact roles (+6 percent). The number of positions in production is also expected to rise significantly in the next two years (+5 percent).
'We see that routine work with little added value for customers is at the greatest risk of being automated,' says José Brenninkmejer, General Director of ManpowerGroup Netherlands. 'In the current world that is increasingly digitalizing, the power of consumers is growing, and thus the value that companies attach to service and, for example, fast delivery in online sales.'
Soft Skills
In addition to expectations for the number of positions, employers were also asked about the most important soft skills for the current, increasingly digitalizing world. At the top are communication skills (56 percent), followed by collaboration (55 percent) and problem-solving ability (54 percent). Notably, they indicate that these specific skills are generally the scarcest.
For more information about the Skills Revolution and the impact of automation in the current digital age, read the report The Skills Revolution 2.0.
