A joint-report by the Scottish Government and Scottish Trades Union Congress examines how digitisation, automation and other technological advances will affect Scottish labour markets in years to come.

The report (found here) addresses growing concerns among workers and trade unions that the continued rise of technology in industry will result in huge future job losses.

However, the report highlights the value of technology in revolutionising Scottish industries and opening up new revenue opportunities for the Scottish economy.

Reports in recent years by Oxford University and the Office of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) have offered conflicting predictions on how jobs will be lost, what new industries could arise and how technology can will impact job markets.

In 2013, an Oxford University paper suggested that up to 35% of jobs in the UK would be lost to automation and artificial intelligence, which could cause massive social and economic disruption. However, the OECD recently refuted these claims, suggesting that only 12% of jobs would be lost to rapidly evolving technologies.

The publication follows Nicola Sturgeon’s recent biannual meetings with the STUC where the issue of automation-related job losses was addressed. At the meeting the First Minister said:

“The report recognises and addresses the genuine fears many workers have over ways in which technology might affect their working lives and future job prospects, and highlights where Scottish Government approaches to skills development and fair work can help meet the challenges of technological change.”

Can Scottish workers keep up with the pace of technological advances or will thousands be left behind by whirlwind progress in robotics, AI and other emerging technologies?

Looking to the Future

The report states that “there is an understandable and increasingly widespread anxiety about the consequences of the current wave of technological change for the Scottish labour market” but also claims “there is little evidence to suggest that technology is currently significantly ‘disrupting’ the Scottish labour market or that it is likely to do so in the short-medium term.”

Claims that the rise of automation will damage the Scottish labour market are considered in equal measure throughout the report. Highlighting that although there are valid concerns, the changes we are currently undergoing aren’t too dissimilar to changes seen in the past – It is possible that the labour market will simply adapt and evolve with these advances.

Additionally, the report suggests that unnecessary moves toward automation may have a negative impact on the economy, stating that it does not “make economic sense to replace human labour even when technologically feasible to do so.”

The CWU suggests that the continued rise of automation in the workplace will inevitably result in job losses and a shortage of manual-input jobs, stating that a “lack of flexibility and personal judgement” could end up reducing the variety of roles. AI, for example, could eliminate the need for a human worker in certain industries, such as administration, accountancy or even legal work.

“Manual handling is reduced with automation, restricting specialised skills and input. Automated scripts reduce any personal input or decision making.”

The Serious Fraud Office recently announced it is introducing automation for handling casework. This system could increase productivity, reduce human error and could be far more cost effective in the long run. The SFO sought to calm fears over job losses, insisting that the introduction of this technology is intended to enhance human workers capabilities and not replace them.

Future Skills Focus

A particular focus was placed on retraining in the report. As industries change at a rapid pace, the need for an adequately trained workforce is essential to the future of both the Scottish economy and the UK as a whole. The report recommends that employers take steps to compensate for changes to roles and provide all necessary training to ensure that workers are capable of carrying out new roles.

If job losses are inevitable in certain sectors, there also must be training programmes to retrain workers to move into other industries. The Scottish Government insists that the necessary infrastructure be in place to assist workers in moving across industries.

The Scottish Government’s Programme for Government acknowledges that investment in digital skills is a priority to ensure economic productivity. The government and the STUC have said they will work to improve and expand the support available to workers and employers so that digital skills can be improved and better cater for an increasingly digital world.

Under Pressure

Automation can revolutionise workplaces across Scotland, however the report suggests that this tool could further pressurise workers already under strain. The report says: “Findings from unions suggest that strain in the workplace could be increased as a result of automation in a number of ways.”

Strain on workers could become an issue as new technology enables employers to monitor the productivity of workers, track their whereabouts and gain detailed insights into their work-rate.

This, the report suggests, breeds a feeling of powerlessness and pressure among employees; developing a toxic targets-driven culture based on statistics and not the quality of work itself.

A further potential problem of automation lies in staff morale. According to the report “workers often felt that their jobs had changed in a way that simply lessened the rewarding elements of it.” In addition to the supposed lack of ‘reward’ in work with automated systems, workers identified that they struggled to accept and enjoy new roles when automation was involved in the process.

Despite suggestions that automation placed pressure on workers, the report does highlight the benefits of rapidly evolving technologies in workplaces – Pointing to toward the enhancement of human roles which, in the long-term, will actually enhance roles.

“Much of the research that has been carried out into automation expects it to be job enhancing.”

Solutions

Long-term, the STUC and the Scottish Government says it will “consider the need to pursue creative responses to the challenges posed by automation, including investing more in workplace innovation to build capacity around job design and work organisation.”

The report also considers that with the introduction of automation, the reduction of working hours has to be addressed while ensuring that pay levels are maintained – or even increased.

The report concludes that “the Scottish Government and the STUC share a common objective – to ensure automation and digitisation are life enhancing for all of Scotland’s people.”