When we consider how the world of work has evolved in recent years, and the new tools we use today to carry out different tasks, it is easy to see that technology has played a very relevant role in the job market in recent decades.

All jobs have changed in one way or another due to technological advancements. Robotics, artificial intelligence, and other types of technology have saved us from doing tedious or risky work, and have allowed us to perform other tasks much faster.

Some jobs currently could not be done without the help of robotics, and many others that simply would not exist if the technology had not advanced to the current state. It has become an essential part of our lives with little awareness of it. 

For this reason, each technological advance tends to be accompanied by concern about how it will affect jobs. Machines are capable of doing some jobs much faster than anyone, and more precisely, so they are viewed with suspicion in some fields. 

Furthermore, automation is much more present in our lives than we tend to be aware of. And perhaps precisely because of how normalized it is, sometimes it is easy to forget the problems it brings.

Some jobs have completely disappeared over the years because they are now carried out by robots or artificial intelligence. Other tasks have simply ceased to be completely necessary, also due to the existence of such technologies. 

Jobs left in the past

Automation is the major concern of workers in various industries. And if we pay attention to the story, it is not an unfounded panic. Since the Industrial Revolution, there have been consequences in the labor world due to the incorporation of technology that has negatively affected workers. 

If we remember, we can think of numerous jobs that are currently performed entirely by different types of robots, machinery, or artificial intelligence. For example, a large part of the objects that we use in our day-to-day life has been manufactured, at least partially, by automated systems. 

The clothes we wear, the means of transport on which we depend, the ATM from which we make money… Most likely, several robots have taken part in the creation or operation of all of them, even though in the past they would have depended completely on the manual labor of different people. 

A couple of centuries ago this would have been difficult to imagine. But today, it would be difficult to imagine the opposite situation, especially if we consider current consumption patterns, which require a dizzying speed of production.

And there are times when the standardization of technology in the workplace has made us not even consider what life was like before the presence of certain automation processes. There are several jobs that we probably haven't even imagined existed at some point.

A curious case is that of the alarm clock. Today it is very common to use our smartphone as an alarm clock, even though there are devices created specifically to wake us up. And it is such a widespread practice that perhaps in a few decades, an alarm clock will be a completely unknown item for several generations.

But before the smartphone and alarm clock, workers also had to get up early to start their workday. The hours with controlled hours arose mainly from the eighteenth century as a consequence of the Industrial Revolution. 

And at that time, using an alarm clock was not a possibility. Some clocks rang small bells at a certain time, but they were very expensive and out of reach for working-class people.

Faced with the need to maintain much stricter schedules, the human alarm clock arose: in countries such as the United Kingdom and Ireland, the so-called knocker uppers used to go house to house, waking up their inhabitants by knocking on doors and windows so that they arrived on time for work.

The knocker upper was a job like any other, and very necessary, especially in working-class neighborhoods. They were a very common figure in the nineteenth and twentieth-century England, to the point of even appearing in one of Charles Dickens' novels. 

But with the standardization of the alarm clock in the mid-twentieth century, the work of the upper knocker ended up being obsolete. Probably the idea that someone today would go from house to house waking people up was almost comical.

And with current population figures, it would be impractical, to say the least. However, the fact is that it is an example of the many jobs that have ceased to exist due to automation. 

The same has happened with other works, especially those related to the manufacture of products, which currently rely heavily on various technological devices to carry them out. Some studies suggest that by 2030, more than twenty million such jobs will be lost to automation.

And there are also jobs in the world of leisure that have completely disappeared due to the implementation of machines. This is the case of the cinema projectionists, formerly in charge of operating the projectors in each room, and whose work became unnecessary when the projections were digitized. 

Something similar has also happened in the bowling alleys. A few decades ago there was a person in charge of placing the bowling pins on each court, and of straightening them when the players knocked them down. Today we probably all have in mind the image of a machine that picks them up and puts them back when each shift ends. 

The need to use a machine instead of a person, in that case, is perhaps debatable. It is certainly one of those situations where technology can perform a task faster than anyone. But this apparent urgency to leave everything done as soon as possible has caused a job to disappear completely. 

Robots that accompany us in our day today

The effects of automation in the workplace are not limited to the past. In very subtle ways, they are increasingly present in our day-to-day and affect many areas on which thousands of jobs depend.

If we stop to look at how businesses have changed in recent years, for example, automation may be somewhat more obvious to us. Not so long ago we were fully dependent on store assistants and ATMs to make any purchases.

But today, many supermarkets have machines distributed by the store so that we can consult where to find a product, or the price thereof, making the help of workers unnecessary.

And it is also increasingly common to find self-service boxes, in which we can scan and pay for everything we are going to buy. Self-service boxes create the deceptive feeling of speeding up purchases, despite not being so, and they also eliminate other types of workers from the store.

The self-service model is also increasingly applied outside of supermarkets. When we go to the cinema or to any show that requires buying tickets, it is very normal that we make the purchase online, without having to go to a box office at any time. 

And even if we do not buy tickets online, there are kiosks where we can make the purchase or collect tickets already purchased, again, without the need to interact with any employee in the process.  

The same is happening with increasing frequency in fast food restaurants. In any McDonald's or Taco Bell, we can find kiosks in which to select our order and pay for food. Then we just have to take the ticket to the counter, so that an employee is in charge of preparing the order.

This has caused that there are fewer and fewer employees to serve the public in this type of restaurant, making it clear that technology is taking the place of the workers of these companies. 

There is a tendency to think that this type of progress will not eliminate the need for workers in jobs with those same tasks. And most self-service stores indeed have a worker supervising or doing additional tasks, to help customers if necessary.

But we already went through a similar process with employees of other types of businesses: gas stations. Years ago, when we were going to put gasoline in the car, an employee of the gas station was in charge of both filling the gasoline and charging the customer. 

Now the normal thing is that the client himself performs both tasks, being able to pay at the pump itself, without even having to interact with employees at any time. This has led to even gas stations without a single employee, which has caused the loss of more than 2,200 jobs, according to INE data. 

When nothing is out of reach of technology

One might think that certain jobs that require highly personalized attention, manual dexterity, or creativity would be free from the threat of technology. But with each new technological advance, it is demonstrated that no field is free from automation. 

This is the case of customer service jobs, where technology increasingly takes on more tasks. Movistar has been serving its customers for several years with a Twitter bot that can handle all kinds of information management and technical service tasks. 

And for those who do not want to manage via Twitter, Movistar also offers its customers telephone service in which they do not have to deal with a single agent. For example, they have automated SMS services that can even detect incidents on the line and arrange a visit by a technician. 

Sometimes, after all those computer programs that assist us when we have an incident, a person is controlling the software. But often the person who controls the software has a very low level of control and is required to manage the data of multiple clients at once, allowing companies to hire fewer people.

Furthermore, it is not clear how often people are handling customer service software due to companies' lack of transparency. There have been several cases in which, despite what some companies claimed, it has been found that there was no one behind the robotic voice on the other end of the phone. 

For example, in 2013 an American company started using software known as Samantha West to attract customers. They claimed that it was not a robot, but operator-controlled software. But several media could verify that this was not true since the alleged software reacted strangely if the client left the script. 

Robot software tended to give repetitive answers, sometimes unrelated to the customer's question. Also, for some reason he was programmed so that in case he was asked if he was a robot, he repeatedly denied it and insisted that it is human. 

It certainly makes clear that more technology is not always better. But that did not stop several American companies from using that telemarketing robot for months, despite the numerous complaints that can even be found on the internet about the robot even today. 

We should also keep in mind that the effects of automation do not affect only low-skilled, low-wage jobs. There are examples of high-wage jobs where technology has completely supplanted traditional workers.

It occurs especially among data analysts and financial specialists. If there is one thing computers are especially good at, it is gathering and analyzing information, and with the right algorithms, a single computer can supply several hundred hours of analyst work.

For this reason, in environments such as Wall Street, it is increasingly common for this work to be in the hands of technology, rather than being carried out by individual employees. And we are talking about jobs with astronomical salaries: a Wall Street financial advisor earned around half a million dollars a year, a not inconsiderable figure.

And it is that in general, the high-wage jobs that could be most affected are those related to banking and finance. Banks' main expense is the salaries of their employees, and those who charge the most would be relatively easy to replace with new technologies that can do the same job more efficiently. 

It is estimated that in the US alone, more than 200,000 banking jobs will end up being lost due to the implementation of robotics, artificial intelligence, and other types of advanced technology. 

Even in cases where technology fails to replace all workers, it is obvious that enough tasks end up being done to reduce the number of jobs. And when a single machine can save a company thousands of euros in wages, it is difficult not to worry about the future of the world of work.

Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence manage to cause some animosity among employees, since competing with these systems is practically impossible. And the more these technologies are developed, the more work they can do. 

There were tasks that, for reasons of skill, creativity, and other factors, seemed safe from this development. But it is clear that nothing is too complicated for technology and, sooner or later, someone will invent a robot that can do a certain task equal to or better than a human.

This is the case of clothing packaging, until now an impossible task for robots because delicacy is usually not their strong point. Also, discerning between different garments is not an easy task for machines, due to the subtle differences in color and shape of each model. 

But in Japan, they have managed to overcome all these obstacles. The Uniqlo brand, focused on the online clothing trade, has a robot that can select the appropriate garments for each order, fold them and package them for later shipment to buyers. 

Should we give up everything lost?

With the panorama presented by all the examples mentioned, it could seem that technology is an enemy that there is no way to defeat. After all, we live in an era in which technology is constantly developing and has more and more influence in our lives. 

But some think that the fear of automation has been exaggerated and that it is not taking into account the benefits it brings, even for those who work in a field that is theoretically threatened by technology. 

One of the main advantages of automation is the possibility of preventing human beings from facing high-risk situations, such as with the use of robots for the deactivation of explosives.

Furthermore, robots can greatly benefit people with disabilities or health problems. For example, in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan, robots are being used to enable hospitalized students to attend class remotely, preventing hospitalization from negatively affecting their attendance data.   

And they can also save employees time by performing repetitive or excessively routine tasks. If applied properly, technology can become a very useful tool that makes it easier to do any job, instead of being an obstacle or a way to generate unemployment.

Logically, this depends on how technology is used in each sector and each company. Companies must learn to view technology as an aid to employees, rather than as a way to save multiple wages. 

And the fact is that, apart from business ethics, we are unclear on how automation will affect the world of work in the long term. After each new technological advance, there are specialized jobs that are in charge of its design, development, maintenance, use ... All of this can generate numerous jobs.

Although there are studies that, as we have mentioned before, suggest the loss of hundreds of thousands and even millions of jobs, there is no consensus regarding the certainty of these figures, since they are still forecasts. 

The MIT Technology Review has tried to compare all the existing studies regarding the effects of automation in the world of work, and the results are confusing and contradictory. 

Some studies conclude that automation will create more work than it will destroy, others do not take into account the generation of new jobs, others make considerations based on data from a single country or a single technology and extrapolate the results to the whole world ...

This information chaos does not help to conclude at all and tends to worry those who see their position threatened by technologies that they do not know or that are implemented without explaining to employees how to work with them. 

If we want to stick to what we know for sure, perhaps the best we can do is look at the real data on how automation has affected the world of work so far. 

In a study carried out by the London's Center for Economic Research, the levels of job creation in manufacturing jobs have been compared with the use of robots in the same industry. 

The results show that those countries that incorporate more robots in the manufacturing of products lose fewer jobs in that industry. By contrast, countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom have implemented fewer manufacturing robots and have experienced a greater increase in unemployment.

Taking this information into account, it is likely that the key is to adapt and make sure that companies act in the most ethical way possible, training their employees so that they can work collaboratively with the new technologies that are implemented day by day in each countryside.