Britain faces social problems as lots of people are set to lose their jobs in technological revolution, Bank of England's chief economist warned.
Andy Haldane said the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution will make the machine replace humans to do thinking things. The dark side of the change could be a much bigger breakdown of employment than in Victorian times, with professions such as accountancy (会计) among those at risk.
A report by the accountancy firm PwC last month warned that more than 7 million jobs in Britain had been lost over the next 20 years as technological change sweeps though workplaces.
The majority of these are in jobs in the retail, transport and manufacturing industries. However, other traditional professional sectors could also be at serious risk.
Economists treat the arrival of increasingly intelligent computers and robots as the fourth industrial revolution. The first was the shift from agricultural to urban societies, the second saw the widespread use of electricity and steel, and the third was the digital revolution when computers, the Internet and mobile phones were developed.
Mr. Haldane said the hollowing-out (空洞化) experienced in the past years could be on a greater scale in the future so it is important to learn the lessons of history and ensure that people are given training to take advantage of new opportunities.
“Jobs were effectively taken by machines of various types, there was a hollowing-out of the jobs market, which left many people for a long period out of work and struggling to make a living,” Haldane added, “That heightened social and financial tensions, and led to a rise in inequality. This is the dark side of technological revolution.”
“That hollowing-out is going to be potentially on a much greater scale in the future, when we have machines thinking and doing the cognitive and technical skills of humans.” Mr. Haldane said professions like accountancy could be among those hardest hit by the rise of AI. But he suggested economists could escape.
