A new study from the Office of National Statistics has found that 7.4% of jobs in England are at high risk of automation.

For the study, ONS analysed the jobs of 20 million people in England in 2017. ONS also found that the proportion of jobs at a high risk of automation decreased slightly between 2011 and 2017, from 8.1% to 7.4%, while the proportion of jobs at low and medium risk of automation has risen.

For an occupation to considered at high risk of automation, its probability of automation must be above 70%.

ONS looked at the tasks performed by people in jobs across the whole labour market, to assess the probability that some of these tasks could be replaced through automation.

Women, young people (aged 20-24), and those who work part-time were found to be most likely to work in roles that are at high risk of automation.

According to the ONS, 70.2% of the roles at high risk of automation are currently held by women.

Meanwhile, of those aged 20 to 24 years who are employed, 15.7% were in jobs at high risk of automation.

“When young workers enter the labour market, they may be entering part-time roles and employed in industries like sales, retail, and other roles where some degree of automation is highly likely,” ONS stated.

The risk of job automation decreases for older workers, and is lowest for workers aged between 35 and 39 years as 1.3% of people in this age bracket are in roles at high risk of automation. The risk then increases from the age group 40 to 44 upwards.

ONS stated that this pattern can be explained by the fact that workers naturally obtain further skills and become more knowledgeable in their field as they progress further in their careers.

When considering the overall risk of automation, the three occupations with the highest probability of automation are waiters and waitresses, shelf fillers and elementary sales occupations, all of which are low skilled or routine.

The three occupations at the lowest risk of automation are medical practitioners, higher education teaching professionals, and senior professionals of educational establishments. These occupations are all considered high skilled.