The 21st century continues to witness the emergence of different technologies that are redefining the way human beings work. Apart from sectors such as the communication sector, which has experience a rise in different technologies that make communication easier, technology is also becoming a significant part of the modern workplace. In this case, there is an increasing reliance on different types of technologies to accomplish both simple and complex tasks at the workplace. According to Bernstein and Raman (2015), whereas in the past human beings reliance on different types of machines to accomplish tasks such as lifting heavy weights, the modern workplace is witnessing an increasing use of technology to make critical decisions. On his part, Morikawa (2016) observes that in the country such as the United States, Information Technology (IT) Revolution has been instrumental in promoting productivity growth since the mid-1990s. Whereas there are numerous benefits of technology at the modern workplace, there are concerns that it will replace humans by taking up their jobs. This paper explores the extent to which digital technologies threaten future employment. Whereas there are concerns on its negative impact on future employment, digital technology plays a critical role in the development of new job opportunities, thus promoting the growth of employment openings in the economy.
21世纪继续见证着不同技术的出现，这些技术正在重新定义人类的工作方式。除了通信部门等部门外，技术也正在成为现代工作场所的一个重要组成部分。通信部门经历了不同技术的崛起，使通信变得更容易。在这种情况下，人们越来越依赖不同类型的技术在工作场所完成简单和复杂的任务。根据Bernstein和Raman（2015）的说法，过去人类依靠不同类型的机器来完成诸如举重等任务，而现代工作场所正在见证越来越多地使用技术来做出关键决策。Morikawa（2016）指出，自20世纪90年代中期以来，在美国等，信息技术（IT）革命在促进生产率增长方面发挥了重要作用。尽管现代工作场所的技术带来了诸多好处，但人们担心，它将取代人类从事工作。本文探讨了数字技术对未来就业的威胁程度。尽管人们担心数字技术对未来就业的负面影响，但数字技术在创造新的就业机会方面发挥着关键作用，从而促进了经济中就业机会的增长。
To begin with, there is a need to gain an understanding on the factors that are leading to faster adoption of digital technology at the workplace, thus putting human jobs at risk. In their analysis of the advantages that technologies such as robots have over human beings, Wisskirchen et al. (2017) observes that machines such as robots can work 24 hours a day 7 days a week without the need to be replaced unlike human beings who are only capable of working within about 8 hours per day. In others words, when a business or organisation employs human being to perform certain tasks, they can only work up a specific limit. However, since machines do not get tired the way human beings do, they continue to work nonstop while at the same time maintaining a high level of accuracy as compared to human beings whose accuracy levels declines when they begin to get tired. Wisskirchen et al. (2017) further observes that robots and other types of machines are more efficient as compared to human beings and as such, businesses and organisations across the globe are increasingly adopting them as a way to enhance their efficiency levels and as such, improve their productivity levels.
首先，需要了解导致工作场所更快采用数字技术的因素，从而将人类工作置于风险之中。在分析机器人等技术相对于人类的优势时，Wisskirchen等人（2017年）观察到，机器人等机器可以一周7天每天24小时工作，无需更换，不像人类每天只能工作8小时左右。换句话说，当一个企业或组织雇佣人来执行某些任务时，他们只能达到特定的极限。然而，由于机器不会像人类那样疲劳，因此它们会继续不停地工作，同时保持较高的精度，而人类在疲劳时精度会下降。Wisskirchen等人（2017年）进一步观察到，机器人和其他类型的机器比人类的效率更高，因此，全球的企业和组织越来越多地采用机器人来提高效率水平，从而提高生产力水平。
Similarly, there is a need to observe machines are capable of doing monotonous and repetitive work with ease, thus making work that human beings do easier. Wisskirchen et al. (2017) further emphasize that with the adoption of technology in businesses and organisations, human beings no longer need to engage or rather to do dangerous work that exposes their health to risks. For example, the military are increasingly using robots to diffuse bombs, thus eliminating the need to put human life at risk. One may argue that the application of digital technology is only on areas that are not considered technology in nature. Whereas this is the case, there is a need to observe that with the introduction of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, businesses and organisation are highly likely to rely on these technologies to develop their computer programs on their own, run them and even check whether such programs have errors (Kaul 2016). Speaking from this view, there are no indications that businesses and organisations across the globe will avoid adopting digital technologies as a critical form of their work. On the contrary, the better digital technologies become, the more they are adopted in different sectors as a way to not only boost productivity but also enhance efficiency.
同样，也需要观察机器是否能够轻松地完成单调重复的工作，从而使人类的工作变得更容易。Wisskirchen等人（2017年）进一步强调，随着技术在企业和组织中的应用，人类不再需要从事或更确切地说，不需要从事会使其健康面临风险的危险工作。例如，军方越来越多地使用机器人扩散炸弹，从而消除了将人的生命置于危险境地的必要性。有人可能会说，数字技术的应用仅限于在本质上不被视为技术的领域。鉴于这种情况，需要注意的是，随着人工智能等数字技术的引入，企业和组织极有可能依靠这些技术自行开发、运行计算机程序，甚至检查这些程序是否存在错误（Kaul 2016）。从这一观点来看，没有迹象表明全球的企业和组织会避免将数字技术作为其工作的一种重要形式。相反，数字技术越先进，它们在不同部门的应用就越多，不仅可以提高生产率，还可以提高效率。