Here's how robots are going to change employment

ManpowerGroup, one of the world's largest jobs companies, released a report detailing how the technological revolution is going to change the employment market forever.

The company released the report, entitled "The Skills Revolution," on conjunction with the World Economic Forum's meeting of the most powerful political and business leaders across the globe in Davos, Switzerland.

It surveyed more than 18,000 employers across 43 countries and six industry sectors.

While technological developments will cause greater automation, a decrease in headcount or slow growth in hiring in some areas, it will actually create a lot of jobs too, according to Manpower.

But the key to this is to make sure the world's workforce "upskills" to be qualified enough to take on new positions. Companies need to invest in their workers to make sure they are not being left behind.

"We are seeing the emergence of a Skills Revolution — where helping people upskill and adapt to a fast-changing world of work will be the defining challenge of our time. Those with the right skills will increasingly call the shots, create opportunities and choose how, where and when they work," said Jonas Prising, Chairman & CEO at ManpowerGroup.

"Those without will look to the future and not be able to see how their circumstances will improve. This polarization of the population that is playing out in front of our eyes is no good for society or for business. We need aggressive workforce development to address the widening gap between the Haves and the Have Nots.

"Now is the time for leaders to be responsive and responsible: we cannot slow the rate of technological advance or globalisation, but we can invest in employees’ skills to increase the resilience of our people and organisations. Individuals also need to nurture their learnability: their desire and ability to learn new skills to stay relevant and remain employable."

Here are the key ways in which the jobs market is predicted to change, according to ManpowerGroup:

Despite fears that great tech developments will destroy jobs, ManpowerGroup's survey suggests that for most companies, things won't change and actually more firms are looking to increase positions rather than cutting headcount.

This heatmap shows where in the world workers are most likely to be hit — namely India. "Employers are anticipating change. Three out of four business leaders believe automation will require new skills over the next couple of years," said ManpowerGroup in the report, citing Deloitte figures.

ManpowerGroup points out that "skills cycles are shorter than ever and 65% of the jobs Gen Z will perform do not even exist yet." It says it is essential that employees keep up with new skills that need to be developed.

The report added that robots are more likely to replace activities within jobs — not just jobs outright. "Creativity, emotional intelligence and cognitive flexibility are skills that will tap human potential and allow people to augment robots, rather than be replaced by them."