Employers plan to increase or maintain their headcount as a result of automation

ManpowerGroup surveyed 19,000 employers in 44 countries and found out  employers (87%) plan to increase or maintain their headcount as a result of automation. ManpowerGroup says that companies that are digitizing are growing, and that growth is producing more and new kinds of jobs.

Organizations that are already automating tasks and progressing their digital transformation are most confident of increasing headcount. Global talent shortages are at a 12-year high and new skills are appearing as fast as others disappear. More companies are planning to build talent than ever before, and this trend shows no sign of slowing. Eighty-four percent of employers plan to upskill their workforce by 2020.

"The focus on robots eliminating jobs is distracting us from the real issue," said Jonas Prising, ManpowerGroup Chairman & CEO. "More and more robots are being added to the workforce, but humans are too. Tech is here to stay and it's our responsibility as leaders to become Chief Learning Officers and work out how we integrate humans with machines. Learning today cannot be done as it was in the past. That's why at ManpowerGroup we're reskilling people from declining industries like textiles for jobs in high growth industries including cyber security, advanced manufacturing and autonomous driving. If we focus on practical steps to upskill people at speed and at scale, organizations and individuals really can befriend the machines."