The Czech Republic, Slovenia, Korea, Poland and Italy are the five countries with the highest share of employees who are at high risk of automation and need significant training to move into lower risk jobs, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Up to six per cent of employees in the Czech Republic and Slovenia will need significant training to find new jobs. Keyboard operators, mining and construction labourers, plant operators and subsistence farmers are the occupations with the higher risk of automation. By contrast, workers in Belgium and Israel are best placed to keep their jobs as automation rises.

According to the OECD skills outlook report, about half of occupations at high risk of automation do not have “acceptable transition to an occupation at lower risk.”

The results “highlight the role of skills distribution for occupational mobility and the implications for education and training policies,” the OECD says. In the long term, the development and adoption of new technologies needed to maintain or increase the competitiveness and growth of a country would require larger investment in education and training.

Source: OECD Skills Outlook 2019.