£140bn added to UK economy by robots, says Deloitte

A new analysis of ONS labour force data by Deloitte has dug deep into the stats involving the effects of automation on the UK economy.

The new study found that in the last 15 years, jobs in sectors such as technology, high-tech manufacturing, and financial and professional services have lost 800,000 jobs to automated process or machines.

Low-risk sectors

Occupations in sectors at low risk of being replaced by robots or software include care services, teaching, business and project management, and these have actually seen an increase of 3.5 million positions since 2001.

Deloitte found that this means £140bn has been added to the economy, because every new low-risk role paid an average of £10,000 more than the high-risk job it replaced.

Care home workers and home carers have seen the greatest increase of 55% growth, with a total of 275,000 jobs being created.

Customer reluctance

Vice chairman of Deloitte Angus Knowles-Cutler commented on the study and said: “Our work shows the automation of jobs is well underway. But we appear to be benefiting from this, not losing out."

Senior economic advisor at Lancaster University’s Work Foundation Ian Brinkley said customers would always be reluctant to see automation in roles involving care of the young and elderly.

"The population that needs care is growing every single year and that is pushing up employment in those areas. Anything to do with people is the hardest to automate and where you are going to get the most resistance from consumers," he explained.