According to the report, up to 52% of work tasks could already be automated. Credit: Freepik.
Prague, July 11 (CTK) – Automation could affect 1.1 million jobs in the Czech Republic by the end of the decade, according to analysis by the Czech Labor and Social Affairs Ministry, prepared for yesterday’s meeting of the Tripartite Council, which brings together representatives of the government, trade unions and employers.
The report, based on several studies, found that at least basic digital skills will be required in over 90% of positions by 2030, while around half of tasks now performed at work could already be automated.
In the report, the ministry focused on the impact of demographic changes on the labour market and possible developments over the next decade.
The Tripartite Council was supposed to discuss the topic at its previous meeting, but did not do so.
The ministry warns that the labour market will have to cope with the ageing population, as well as the “insufficient use of the potential” of parents of young children and elderly workers. The report also claims that the number, content and form of offered jobs will change significantly, in response to multiple factors including digitalisation and robotisation, remote working, and generational differences in attitudes to work.
“Technological changes will fundamentally influence the supply and demand for labour as soon as in this decade,” the ministry says in the document.
According to the report, up to 52% of work tasks could already be automated. If technologies are introduced at a “medium pace”, 1.1 million jobs would be automated by 2030. Another study reaches the same conclusion, saying 51% of jobs could be automated.
Estimates suggest that up to half of jobs could be transformed in the next few years. Some will disappear, others will be created, and the overall picture will depend on the adaptability of the workforce.
“These changes cannot be avoided, but will take place gradually,” the ministry said, adding that the changes will also depend on investment by companies and the state, labour mobility, and political decisions.
Without a proactive approach, there is a risk of losing competitiveness, increasing unemployment and slowing economic growth, the report authors warn. They mention that manual routine work will be the first to be transformed, followed by repetitive and predictable knowledge activities.
By 2030, at least basic digital skills will be needed for more than 90% of positions, up from about 54% now. “This theoretically means that 2.2 million extra workers will need to learn these skills,” the ministry says in the report.
It points out that the Czech Republic is one of the countries with the lowest share of adults involved in further education. This figure was only 5.8% in 2021, compared with the EU average of 10.8%. The ministry wants to use EU money to launch “an immediate and structural change in the approach to further education,” and has already launched an e-shop with courses.
According to the report, the number of people aged 15 to 64 in the Czech Republic fell by 485,700 between 2011 and 2021, while the number of those over 65 is 495,500 higher. The number of children under 14 has increased by 189,700. Migration is compensating for the decline in the working age population; between 2022 and 2031, 497,000 people are projected to immigrate to the Czech Republic from abroad, the Labor and Social Affairs Ministry says.
The ministry used the data from the Czech Statistical Office (CSU) and Eurostat for its estimates, as well as studies by McKinsey, Deloitte, BCG and the Aspen Institute, among others.
