30 Workforce of the future: The competing forces shaping 2030 Our Four Worlds of Work are each markedly different, but through each runs the vein of automation and the implications of robotics and AI. Will robots eventually replace us all at work? Or will we create a new world where people and machines work alongside each other? It’s the most fundamental – and difficult – question we must ask of the future of work. As more individual tasks become automatable through AI and sophisticated algorithms, jobs are being redefined and re ‑ c ategorised. A third of people worldwide are now worried about losing their job to automation 4 . It’s clear that automation will result in a massive reclassification and rebalancing of work. Some sectors and roles, even entire sections of the workforce will lose out but others will be created. Automation will not only alter the types of jobs available but their number and perceived value. By replacing workers doing routine, methodical tasks, machines can amplify the comparative advantage of those workers with problem ‑ solving, leadership, EQ (Emotional Intelligence), empathy and creativity skills. Those workers performing tasks which automation can’t yet crack, become more pivotal – and this means creativity, innovation, imagination, and design skills will be prioritised by employers. This view is supported by business leaders worldwide who responded to our most recent CEO survey 5 . While CEOs are keen to maximise the benefits of automation – 52% told us that they’re already exploring the benefits of humans and machines working together and 39% are considering the impact of AI on their future skills needs – the majority (52%) were also planning to increase headcount in the coming 12 months. Finding the skills they need has become the biggest threat to their business, they say, but the skills they’re looking for are particularly telling: problem ‑ s olving, adaptability, collaboration, leadership, creativity and innovation top the list. Figure 2: Jobs at risk of automation by country 6 4 PwC survey of 10,029 members of the general population based in China, Germany, India, the UK and the US 5 PwC 20th Annual Global CEO Survey http://www.pwc.com/talentchallenge 6 http://www.pwc.co.uk/economic ‑ s ervices/ukeo/pwc ‑ u k ‑ e conomic ‑ o utlook ‑ f ull ‑ r eport ‑ m arch ‑ 2 017 ‑ v 2.pdf 100 38 % US 30 % UK 21 % Japan 35 % Germany What does this mean for jobs?