Automation threatens job growth: B20 panel

Increasing levels of workplace automation are a threat to job growth, but advances in robotics and other technological changes should not be seen as negative, a B20 roundtable has warned.

SEEK founder Andrew Basset highlighted the importance of automation when speaking on a panel at a Melbourne lunch yesterday.

"There wasn't much of a solution to it other than the fact that we have a problem," Mr Basset said.

The discussion stemmed from an Oxford University research paper which found that up to 47 per cent of jobs are open to digitisation over the next decade.

CEO of Open Universities Australia Paul Wappett warned that automation and digital change is hastening the globalisation of various industries.

It’s creating a situation where the “winner takes all markets,” Mr Wappett said.

“What happens to labour across different markets as somebody gets knocked off by somebody in a digital market?” he asked.

Even so, chairman of OECD Business and Industry Advisory Committee Phil O’Reilly warned against holding an “overly negative” debate on how technology will impact job growth.

“There will be job growth in tourism, aged care, services businesses more generally, entertainment,” he said.

“When I look at digitisation, it's a challenge, no doubt about that.

“But I think it's quite important to not get down about the idea that developed economies won't go anywhere.

“That's just not the case. It's just the new opportunities that we need to focus on.”