| More than one in three (39.4%) of accounting and legal jobs in England are currently under threat from automation, according to the latest stats from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The new research has identified 325,000 jobs in the accountancy and the legal profession that are at risk from the robots. However, some of these jobs are at a much higher risk than others. ONS has estimated just 5,000 accounting and legal jobs (1.5%) are currently at a high risk to be handed over to the machines. In the middle (medium risk) are 201,000 jobs. The low risk numbers are 119,000 roles, or 36.6% of the total employed in both professions. ONS has also produced a table of the probability of automation for certain sectors within accountancy. Here’s what it thinks: • Chartered & certified accountants – 25.98%. • Financial & accounting technicians – 38.29%. • Taxation experts – 34.66%. • Bookkeepers, payroll managers and wage clerks – 56.41%. • Finance Officers – 48.11%. Overall, ONS believes 1.5m of all jobs in England are at high risk of being given to the robots. It also claimed that younger people and women are more likely to be impacted, with those aged between 35 and 39 being the least likely to face competition from a robot in their careers. |