The ManpowerGroup, a staffing company, published a survey on Friday which shows that automation has the opposite effect to what many have predicted.
Some have feared that robots would take over jobs to replace human staff. As it seems, 69% of 19 thousand employers across 44 countries, want to maintain the number of their staff. The survey also states that the other 18% needs more people due to automation. It was the highest outcome for the past three years.
Jonas Prising, the chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup expresses that as the number of robots increases in the workforce, so does the number of people. The International Federation of Robotics predicts that there would be over 3 million industrial robots operating in factories by the year 2020. The number of employers who are planning to train their workers has increased to 84%, compared to 21% in 2011.
Most of the staff that 16% of the companies will be looking for are those with IT skills. On the other hand, the manufacturing and production industries will be hiring people to fill-in roles that involve skills in communication, negotiation, adaptability, and leadership.
The shortage in global talent is now at a 12-year-high with countries like Germany are struggling to fill-in jobs for small- and mid-sized companies.
Companies in countries like Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Norway, Romania, and Slovakia, foresees a decline of staff they plan to hire, in favor of automation. In contrast, their counterparts in Costa Rica, Guatemala, South Africa, and Singapore predict the highest increase of employees.