This is a short article, from Executive Views that raises interesting questions that I’ve kicked around a bit for a the last few years.
I work in banking, where we’ve moved from brick and mortar buildings filled with tellers, loan officers, operations teams and a handful of managers to very small efficient teams.
This change took less than 30 years.
The primary driver is the rise of the Visa Debit Card and internet banking. Interstate banking and Check 21, which allowed scanned checks to stand in for actual checks have certainly contributed as has the rise of Direct Deposit and Electronic funds transfer.
I’ve wondered aloud with co-workers, how long the traditional branches will last or if an adaptation of the business model will happen as less and less people are needed to service clients.
In all industries, the rise and the broad adoption of technology by the population means that jobs will become more and more scarce. I can say from a first-hand perspective that there are less jobs available in banking now than there were 5 years ago. The company that I work for is more profitable, and busier than ever before, but we simply don’t need as many people to do the work as more and more of our clients use electronic resources.
One interesting note is that the few employees that we do need are increasingly required to have broader experience and will handle less specialized duties in their role.
I’ve heard it said that the future of our economy will include a lot more service jobs. I agree.
“In all industries, the rise and the broad adoption of technology by the population means that jobs will become more and more scarce.”
Interesting topic, Dan, but I think you’re fundamentally wrong if you mean to say that technology results in fewer jobs. In fact, there are far more jobs now, with more technology. The jobs, however, have shifted to the electronic companies that create the technologies that replace people. Rather than employing people in an assembly line at a car factory, the jobs have shifted to the robot manufacturer that makes the machines that assemble the cars. Although there may be a net loss in this line of work, the efficiency is greater, and is passed to other parts of the economy in lower prices, leaving more disposable income for people to spend on other items, such as iphones. Technology is not new – it is simply relative to the time. Technology has been putting people out of work for years, but the creation of companies and jobs in new technological fields have been putting them back to work.
Yeah, I don’t disagree with you Seth. Technology isn’t new. I’m mainly stating that the types of jobs available are changing. The service and information that people like bank employees provided in the past are now accessible from an automated process.
Are the displaced jobs located overseas? Not all of them certainly, but not everyone has a new job to move into in the same company or even the same industry after things change. What does the displaced worker do? Most likely they will move into a new type of job or a support role to the new efficient process.
- like Charlie’s Dad in Willy Wonka who gets a job repairing the machine that replaced him in the chocolate factory.
Certainly it is good to know where the work is going.
Thanks for commenting Seth!