Financial services leads list of sectors most worried about robo-redundancies

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Are you concerned a robot might be after your job?

Well, you may find some comfort in the fact you're not alone: this week alone, City PM has reported on how hedge fund bosses are bracing themselves for the rise of the machine and, eek, journalists also appear dispensable in some areas. 

Those working in financial services are most worried about the rise of technology. Nearly half (47 per cent) believe technology is putting their job at risk.

This compares with 33 per cent who work in sales, 20 per cent in IT, 18 per cent in marketing and communications and 15 per cent in human resources (HR).

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Read more: Robots, AI and digital disruption are coming to the hedge fund industry

“Long gone are the days when banks used to hire a majority of humanities graduates,” said Alice Leguay, co-founder and chief operating officer of Emolument.com.

Jobs in the financial sector are becoming more and more technical: employees are expected to control or at least understand the technological automated processes necessary to fulfilling their professional tasks.

While some functions still require a human touch, none are unscathed with even sales jobs are being obliterated by efficient machines.

Emolument asked 900 professionals “is technology putting your job at risk?” for the study, which also broke the results down by qualifications, degree subjects and country.

Read more: Future-proofing your career against the tide of automation

Here are some of the study’s other findings:

  • Those without a university degree were least worried (18 per cent), while those with a masters in finance were most concerned (40 per cent)
  • In terms of degree subject, those who studied economics are most pessimistic (42 per cent), ahead of management and strategy (39 per cent) and business and finance (38 per cent). Computer sciences graduates were least concerned (15 per cent)
  • Nearly half (49 per cent) of those surveyed living in Singapore believe technology is putting their job at risk, ahead of India (48 per cent) and Switzerland (44 per cent). Those from Italy were least worried (17 per cent), with the UK not much worse (24 per cent).