Women bearing brunt of job losses due to automation, new data shows

Up to 400,000 roles held by women in the public sector, banking and retail have been lost since 2011

Women are bearing the brunt of jobs losses brought on by increased automation, while men are benefiting from the best-paid new jobs on the market, according to new research from the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).

Up to 400,000 roles held by women in the public sector, banking and retail have been lost since 2011 due to a combination of automation and austerity measures, the RSA said.

Female workers have further lost out because of the fall in private-sector roles such as retail cashiers, personal assistants and hairdressers, according to the analysis.

The RSA found that programmers and software developers as well as HR managers and directors were among the top 20 fastest growing occupations, while retail cashiers and checkout operators were among the fastest shrinking.

Many jobs in the new economy are well paid but the research found only one in 20 new coders and programmers are women.

The charity warned of a “double-whammy” affecting female workers and Benedict Dellot, head of the RSA Future Work Centre, said the “cliche of tech bros” was “entirely warranted”.

Mr Dellot said: “The advent of autonomous vehicles, personal voice assistants and picking and packing machines in warehouses shows that the age of automation is well and truly upon us.

“Contrary to what many people believe, this has not led to widespread job losses. Unemployment is at its lowest level in 45 years and many good quality jobs are being created in the high-value technology sector.

However, he added: “The forces of creative destruction can be brutal for those on the losing side. The evidence is stacking up that women are being left behind in the new economy. The cliche of tech bros is entirely warranted. Barely one in 20 new coders and programmers are women.

“We knew that the tech industry was highly gendered but the scale of the problem is shocking.”

Mr Dellot said: “The good news is that there is time to respond. We are still in the early stages of the age of automation and many jobs are yet to be affected.

“The challenge for government, employers and educators is to make sure the 2020s play out differently to the 2010s so that everyone – regardless of gender, age or location – shares in the spoils of new technology.”

The findings follow a warning from the World Economic Forum that women are significantly affected by the automation of jobs and development of artificial intelligence.