Are Robots Coming to Steal Our Jobs?

A new report from McKinsey & Co, a worldwide management firm, has concluded that robots may be coming for over 800 million jobs by 2030. That’s equivalent to over a fifth of today’s global labor force.

McKinsey conducted extensive research with 46 nations and looked at 800 different occupations before coming to this scary conclusion.

So, should we really be afraid of robots coming to steal our jobs?

Honestly, maybe. The consulting company said Wednesday that both first-world and growing third-world countries will be impacted by this robot uprise. Robots could easily take the jobs of machine operators, fast-food workers and back-office employees when they make their way into the workplace.

Even if the rise of robots begins to slow down over time, around 400 million workers could still find themselves displaced and possibly unemployed over the next 13 years, the McKinsey Global Institute study found.

If you’re wondering if there’s any good news, it’s that those who lose their jobs will likely have jobs to transition into, but they’d have to learn new skills.

“We’re all going to have to change and learn how to do new things over time,” Michael Chui, a San Francisco-based partner at the institute, said in an interview with Bloomberg Technology.

Those jobs will most likely include health-care providers for aging populations, technology specialists and even gardeners, according to the report.

The report also found that China is most likely going to be hit the hardest, due to a larger workforce that focuses heavily on automation.