Concordia Employers’ Confederation launches the research report on the impact of technology on two of the most important sectors of the Romanian economy, the automotive sector and the oil and gas sector.
The COVID 19 pandemic has accelerated the pace of transformation and automation and it is estimated that technological progress will lead to the transformation or disappearance of millions of jobs globally. The Concordia Employers’ Confederation wanted to know the impact of the 4.0 revolution on jobs and skills in the two fields in Romania. The study presents the occupations most at risk, the skills that will not be needed in the future, the new opportunities that open up and what can facilitate the transition to the jobs of the future.
The research was conducted with the assistance of KPMG and IPSOS, and is part of the project “Renewed social dialogue for the new world of work. Job transitions & digitalization in two industrial sectors in CEE countries – Romania, Hungary, Slovakia. WorkTransitionCEE”, a project co-financed by European Union.
The qualitative analysis was conducted by interviewing 109 managers from the two industries and 1,713 employees and revealed 96 occupations at potential risk due to the digital revolution in the four participating companies.
Each of the two industries has a number of factors that influence their change. For the automotive industry, electric batteries and hybrid mobility, connectivity and digitalization and the semiconductor crisis are some of the trends that are transforming the way we work, and for the oil and gas sector, the aging of the workforce, price fluctuations and decabornisation are among the main reasons.
Although quite familiar with the growing importance of technological impact in their industries, employees are not fully aware of its impact on their own workplace. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of employees know how important technology is, but only 5% of workers surveyed agreed that their industries may need fewer employees to perform. According to the study, 6 out of 10 employees say the technological change is necessary and that its implementation is done at the right pace. However, more than a third (35%) feel that the pace is too fast and less than 10% (mainly in the oil and gas industry) think that it is somehow too slow.
The research revealed that in both sectors there will be a decline in manual labor skills, but also of those related to manipulation, data processing, reporting and those aimed at repetitive activities. The key competencies that are expected to be of less importance in the future in the Automotive industry are: visual acuity, communication, precision control, selective attention, manual dexterity, endurance and monitoring, and the most affected could be jobs in Logistics departments, Maintenance and Quality Control.
In the case of the Oil and Gas industry, the skills that will have a smaller share are those related to active listening, coordination, quality control, analysis, critical thinking and persuasion, that will generate changes in support and administrative operations, in shipping and refinery.
