Some years ago, students learned about the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century that took advantage of coal for power. Ever since, the world has evolved to the current fourth revolution; the second is attributed to the creation of an electrical grid, and the third being mass communication. The current revolution is all about widespread computing power and other advanced technologies.

Unfortunately, as Tech Trends continue revolving, employment laws remain stagnant, exposing employees to various unsafe working conditions. This is why employers should constantly consult employment lawyers in all aspects of their business. Below are recent tech trends that generally affect employment.

Impact of Big Data on Employment

The increasing use of monitoring devices, smartphones, and computers generates tons of data. While this is the foundation of the latest industrial revolution, managers and business owners might find it challenging to manage this enormous amount of data. This is why most companies have considered integrating artificial intelligence and data science into their systems.

Collecting and analyzing real-time data for decision-making is important, especially for large businesses. An excellent example of the application of this trend is in Google search results for local restaurants. Internet search not only provides its precise location and menu but also how busy the restaurant is. Restaurant owners may harness and use data from their recent internet search to forecast the expected customers and schedule enough employees during this period.

This trend also significantly affects recruitment. Artificial intelligence and other sophisticated software can prepare Job descriptions, search for potential candidates, and screen job applicants before hiring managers take over. The software can also prepare questions, gather candidate profiles from multiple sources, and develop job-specific games and tests that improve the screening process.

The data-driven recruitment process can produce, evaluate, and improve various metrics, including the time taken to hire, hiring costs, benchmarking, and retention. By analyzing recruitment data, employers avoid screening questions that can be considered discriminatory. This makes the recruitment process legal, objective, and accurate.

Beyond hiring, big data can be used for employee monitoring, especially in developing journey maps. Just to mention, journey maps are records of employee experience right from recruitment to termination of contracts. They include time tracking to social media reports. Such information can help businesses improve employee engagement.

Impact on Income, Gender, Ethnic, and Racial Disparities

With the increasing adoption of various tech trends, some jobs will grow in demand, while others will likely drop. The impact of artificial intelligence and automation is an accelerated trend in the employment sector. For instance, in the coming years, switchboard operators will be replaced by interactive voice responses. Grocery receptionists will also be replaced with self-checkout machines.

Advancing AI will also upend job availabilities for surgeons, truck drivers, and paralegals. That said, tech jobs might be the only category poised for growth. Adopting these trends leads to a growing demand for data scientists and developers. There will also be increased demand for home health care aides and other health-related jobs. According to research studies, the demand for basic data processing and manual labor skills will decline while social, emotional, and cognitive skills will increase in demand.

The main difference between jobs with increased demand and those being lost is the pay. Most jobs requiring average skills and pay middle-class wages will be lost. On the other hand, high-paying jobs requiring great skills will increase in demand. Most employees of these occupations will lose their jobs because they lack the skills needed to shift to higher-paying jobs.

The difference between in-demand and declining jobs will also lead to ethnic, gender, and racial disparities. For instance, women occupy more than 90 percent of typing and word processing positions, with 40% being held by women of color. Unfortunately, these jobs will face the biggest decline in a few years due to tech trends.

Additionally, while high-end paying jobs with good pay scales and increasing demand will employ more men, only a few men of color will secure employment. Men take up more than 80% of information security analyst and web/app development jobs. From these, only an estimated 20 percent of these occupations will be taken by people of color.

With existing racial and ethnic gaps in education, technological advances will widen these gaps while lessening opportunities for some people in the labor market.

Ensuring Tech Trends Benefit All Employees

Without a doubt, technological advancements have changed how people work, right from hiring processes, reducing labor demand in some occupations, and expanding the demand for others. Note that this affects both rapidly growing and disadvantaged businesses. While they are a key to increased productivity and high-quality employment, they only provide employment positions for the few who are qualified. This presents a risk, especially for those without degrees.

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