Foreword
You may have heard that robots are coming for your job. Rapid
advances in robotics, big data and artificial intelligence are
beginning to disrupt entire industries, and technology is
threatening to replace more than ten million UK workers. But a new
debate is now raging between those who argue that we are ushering
in an era of unprecedented technological unemployment, and those
who claim that job prospects for people with the right mix of
talent have never been better.
While the debate rages on, we have been examining the data that
allows us to understand the changing demand for individual skills,
knowledge and abilities caused by technology shifts.
Based on our analysis, we believe that, although Science,
Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) skills and knowledge
are important in an increasingly digital economy, the UK will
benefit most from a workforce that has a balance of technical
skills and more general purpose skills, such as
