Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-27 15:16:10|Editor: Zhou Xin

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by Will Koulouris

SYDNEY, July 27 (Xinhua) -- A total of 20 billion hours of work were assessed in Australia in a study released Thursday, which found that automation will impact the role of every job in every occupation.

The researchers at the Foundation for Young Australians looked at the work undertaken by 12 million Australians, and discovered that there will be a definitive shift towards creative and strategic thinking tasks in the workplace - while monotonous, manual and routine tasks will be phased out.

The chief executive officer of the foundation, Jan Owen, said they predict that by the year 2030, 30 percent more time will be spent learning skills in the workplace, and science and mathematical skills will comprise 77 percent more time, while verbal communication will rise by 17 percent.

"To navigate this changing world of work, our understanding of what it means to be 'smart' needs to shift," Owen said.

"Traditional education and training institutions will be required to transform their approaches well before 2030."

In the study, the researchers outlined that they anticipate that jobs will have to adapt in the future to co-exist alongside the automation processes that are introduced, and Prof. James Bailey from the University of Melbourne told Xinhua on Thursday that he has a positive outlook about what the automation future might hold for Australia.

"A lot of the existing jobs I believe will continue to exist. There will certainly be new types of jobs, some of them we can predict what they will be," Bailey said.

"I see it in a more optimistic light. I think the opportunities of new types of jobs are at least equal to the disappearance of existing jobs."

Bailey believes that further training of students at all levels in subjects that are centered around the burgeoning automation industry is critical to prepare the next generation for what lies ahead.

"Certainly a lot of schools at the moment are talking about teaching children how to do coding, and the prime minister (of Australia) has made public statements about the desirability of students doing coding for example," he said.

According to the research, people currently aged 15 years old are likely to change employers 17 different times, spanning five separate career paths.