Five Ontario jobs at-risk of automation — and what you can do to prepare

Canada frequently ranks as the most-educated country in the world, and yet we are pretty pessimistic about what the future of work holds — at least for us humans. In a 2018 survey, nearly 60 per cent of participants stated that they believe this whole smart-robot-thing will lead to massive unemployment, and 40 per cent are certain their current job will disappear within the decade. But will it be as grim as that?

Matthias Oschinski, an economist and head of the MaRS data and analytics team, is far more bullish about the coming Fourth Industrial Revolution, and he predicts that job opportunities will actually defang the disruption. It’s reassuring to note that despite the U.S.’s continual pioneering of disruptive technology, the country is seeing historically low levels of unemployment. In fact, many watchers even suggest that AI will be the greatest job engine in history. And while jobs will be lost, new ones will be created entirely. A stock broker might become a social entrepreneur; an HR expert might move into man-machine team management.

So, how to prepare for this coming tide? "For me, the best way to empower at-risk workers is to provide them with better information and more choices,” Matthias says. "That’s how you make strong economic decisions — for yourself and for society.”

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