New study says the next wave of automation is coming for Orlando’s workforce

Automation has put a huge dent in the need for the auto industry workers. Ditto grocery stores, as there’s no need for so many cashiers because people can self-checkout. A new study suggests the next wave of automation will wipe out work in industries that make up a big chunk of Orlando’s workforce.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment Statistics, Kempler Industries, an Illinois-based machinery buyer and seller, listed the jobs most susceptible to automation. The study also lists the regions that could suffer the most potential job loss.

Orlando was listed as the second-most susceptible metro in the country to automation. The study says 30 percent of the area workforce is “considered at-risk.”

That chunk of the workforce is made up of hotel, motel and resort desk clerks, secretaries and administrative assistants, and textile bleaching and dyeing machine operators – all jobs the analysis forecasts will be on the robot chopping block.

Las Vegas, at 31 percent, was the only metro to edge out Orlando on Kempler’s list of impending automation doom. The Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metros finished third and fourth.

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This article appears in The 12 Pups of Christmas.