It has been argued that more and more work that belonged to people is now performed by technology and this will lead to worse job security for humans in the long-term. While this argument has strong reasons, I am inclined to think that the number of jobs is less likely to shrink and more likely to be substituted for other, more advanced types of work.
It is definitely true that technological advancements have already been performing a large number of low-skilled tasks in factories all around the globe. Sewing clothes, organising packages, assembling cars and much more are precisely done by automatic machines that do not require any salary and holidays. As a result, employers have been cutting the number of employees in repetitive, monotonous jobs for years.
Despite the mentioned arguments, certain job replacements, in fact, not only did not decrease the amount of workplaces, but actually played a crucial role in improving work opportunities for humans. Precisely, a decline in low-skilled positions in the labour market as well as the introduction of robots in many industries resulted in a strong demand for high-skilled workers, such as engineers, IT specialists and mechanics. Consequently, this trend has generated many job openings against the fears of some.
Furthermore, this drastic transformation means that people no longer have to work in dangerous environments since automation removed the need for blue collar jobs. For instance, while some decades ago industrial sites directly employed humans for high-fatality jobs, such as miners, today most of the work is conducted by special robots. Thus, in the contemporary world, fewer humans are exposed to hazard conditions.
In conclusion, robots and other machines are less likely to result in fewer jobs as humans will shift to different, more progressive positions if menial jobs are not available. In addition, technology has assisted humans by taking over some work in unsafe conditions. I believe technology is not our replacement, it is our tool for better opportunities.
