Haldane: robots threaten 15m jobs

“Nor are they likely to choose a robot to look after their young children or elderly parents”.

You can find out exactly how likely it is that a robot will take your job here.

As machines are becoming smarter, more jobs are becoming at risk of automation, especially low-skilled ones, although mid-skilled positions were going to be affected too, according to Haldane.

The bank classified the jobs into three categories – those where the probability of automation was higher than 66 per cent, those in the probability range of 33-66 per cent and those with probability of automation lower than 33 per cent.

Mr Haldane pointed to concerns that middle income jobs could be “hollowed out” by the rise of machines, leaving only low-paid and high-paid jobs behind.

As machines improve, he states: “the greater the likelihood that the space remaining for uniquely-human skills could shrink further”.

The negative impact of technology to jobs was present since the ancient times. According to Haldane, ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome faced similar predicaments as industrial inventions replace humans on certain jobs and the cycle went on until the 21 century. The questions below are based on research by Michael Osborne and Carl Frey from Oxford University called ‘The Future of Employment: How susceptible are jobs to automation?’ Around 1.75 million people are unemployed but are looking for work.

The newly robotic, or at least augmented workforce could lead to wide scale unemployment and a widening of the wage gap, Hardlane continued.

Mr Haldane added: “If these visions were to be realised, however futuristic this sounds, the labour market patterns of the past three centuries would shift to warp speed”.

“Machines are already undertaking tasks which were unthinkable – if not unimaginable – a decade ago”.

In order to future-proof the UK’s workforce, school education may have to focus more on “non-cognitive skills” such as self-confidence, self-esteem, relationship building and negotiation, Mr Haldane said. “Today it is scientific fact”.

However, he suggests possible ways to overcome job replacements by technology. Humans may retain an edge in jobs that require “high-level reasoning”, such as the use of imagination.

Robots are now analysing information and doing tasks once exclusively done by humans in a fraction of the time.

Yet growing movements towards using machines rather than workers could also add fuel to arguments to keep interest rates on hold, he said, as inflation could fall short of the Bank’s 2pc target for longer.