Technology has had a significant impact on the engineering industry, but a new report has revealed today’s young graduates could be pushed out of future jobs due to automation.
The report, ‘The New Work Order,’ by AlphaBeta for the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), found in the next 10 to 15 years, young Australians will enter industries that are facing significant disruption.
The report found around 70 per cent of young people will go into jobs that will be affected by automation. Meanwhile, 60 per cent of students are currently studying occupations where two-thirds of jobs will be automated.
Dhakshy Sooriyakumaran, project director at FYA, said while the research around automation and its impact on jobs has been around for some time in the UK, it is only now being discussed in Australia. She attributed this to the belief that an automated future seems a very far off one.
“Ten to 15 years is incredibly short and we need to be strategic and prepare for that,” she said.
“It’s currently already happening, and it’s just the rate at which it happens is going to increase quite rapidly and suddenly … I think it’s completely irresponsible to not think about it.”
Sooriyakumaran, who studied civil engineering at university, said the engineering profession should be considering automation and how young engineers can better prepare for the future. For example, how engineers in roles that become automated can create value in other ways, such as developing their enterprising skillset.
“Traditionally, engineering has been really good at transferring technical capabilities from senior engineers to more junior engineers, but I would argue that engineering isn’t necessarily great at building the capacity around enterprising skills,” she said.
“Communication and unleashing the engineer’s creativity and innovation is less emphasised and valued in the profession.”
Patrick Fogarty, senior director at Norman Disney and Young, has more than 30 years experience in the engineering industry and believes automation should be embraced.
He said what is currently happening with automation in the industry is just an extension of technological changes decades ago, such as the introduction of computers, and that engineers need to adopt automation to stay competitive in a global industry.
Fogarty said the biggest impact of automation on the engineering industry has been on repetitive jobs, with some of those roles now obsolete or the tasks no longer exist, such as CAD tracing.
“In our company that role’s gone. If we have to do it at all, we send that offshore. As a job locally, it’s not there (anymore),” he said.
But Fogarty believes automation isn’t changing the requirements for engineering, it’s just changing the skillset of engineers.
“If you go back 25 or 30 years when I started, we didn’t know we’d need computer skills, but if you didn’t get your head around computer skills in the first five years, then you didn’t have a job,” he said.
“While it’s a little bit scary how quickly things are changing now, it’s also progress, and I don’t think you can stand in the way of that.”
‘The New Work Order’ also highlighted the influence automation has on creating job inequality. This is primarily due to lower skilled jobs being the most negatively affected by automation, while higher skilled jobs benefit the most.
Sooriyakumaran said one of the flow-on effects of this is a widening gap between highly skilled professionals and everyone else, as unskilled workers are forced to compete with low-cost automation. The report states this is already a reality in Australia.
“I think there is a huge link between inequality and automation,” Sooriyakumaran said. “We can’t just go with the flow and hope that the inequality people take care of themselves. It’s something that requires strategic forethought. People can’t be left to fend for themselves in this increasingly competitive global market.”
So far the response to the report has been positive across all sectors, according to Sooriyakumaran, particularly from organisations working directly with young people, such as tertiary institutions.
But while the report provides recommendations for government policy, Sooriyakumaran asserts the road ahead needs to include a collaborative effort across several sectors, including education and the private sector.
“All the different spheres that operate in this space need to come together to completely redesign educational experiences, redesign what work experience looks like and redesign some things in light of this information. I wouldn’t say government solely can do that,” she said.
“Right now, I don’t think our education system is equipping young people in the right way and this gap is going to be further widened as automation, collaboration and globalisation continues. I think engineering companies – large and small – have a huge role to play in this and reshaping what education is.”
[Image: Patrick Fogarty, senior director at Norman Disney and Young.]