Originally published by beBee producer. Reposted with permission.
There was a time when the idea that machines could someday replace people for performing certain jobs seemed like science fiction. However, as technology continues to advance and improve, automated systems are becoming increasingly competent at performing tasks that only humans were once able to execute. Because of this, certain jobs are beginning to disappear in the new economy with the increasing perfection of automated tech. Here are some examples of jobs that are on the verge of vanishing from the career marketplace.
Remember the Beatles song about "Lovely Rita Meter Maid?" Well, if Rita was a real person in today's society, she may find that she's about to be laid off! Parking enforcement workers are quickly being replaced by automated ticketing kiosks at many parking garages and other public car parks across the country. Where it was once necessary for a person to determine whether a car is parked illegally, machines can now scan license plates to assess whether a person has paid the proper parking fee, whether he or she has parked in the correct spot, and whether the person's allotted parking time has expired. Because of this, the need for parking attendants and others whose job it is to ensure that everyone is appropriately parked has significantly decreased.
These days, more and more businesses are moving away from employing a human being to answer the phone, and are instead relying on automated phone answering systems. In addition to this, other tasks that were once associated with the position of front desk receptionist are also getting automated, eliminating the need for a person at the front desk altogether. High tech solutions like digital visitor logbooks are allowing businesses to save money by letting a robot handle the flow of in-office traffic. Not only that, but since more and more companies are ditching the office concept altogether in favor of a remote workplace that allows employees more flexibility and a good work-life balance, there's less of a need for a person to physically be sitting at a reception desk.
No surprise here- the automotive assembly line perfected by Henry Ford way back at the beginning of last century has received a massive upgrade. Humans are no longer required to install automotive equipment. Now a car simply has to roll down the line to receive any and all repairs, customizations, or assembly at the hands of automated robotic arms. Not only does this change improve business processes and increase production speed, reducing bottlenecks, but it also increases safety and quality by ensuring that each part gets installed exactly the same, with zero margins of human error.
No matter how many jobs disappear due to technological advancement, the human factor will always be an integral part of the business world. We no longer have a need for people to perform jobs that can now be performed by automated systems, but we still depend heavily on human brainpower to help make those systems work, fix them when they're offline, and continue developing them as they grow ever more powerful. It's accurate that some jobs are going the way of the dinosaur, but humans will always be in popular demand for the most important aspects of the business.