As a part of its Digitalization and future of work project, Cedefop estimates the risks of automation for occupations. The most exposed occupations are those with significant share of tasks that can be automated – operation of specialised technical equipment, routine or non-autonomous tasks – and those with a small reliance on communication, collaboration, critical thinking and customer-serving skills.

The risk of automation is further accentuated in occupations where employees report little access to professional training that could help them cope with labour market changes. The automation risk indicator calculates the share of people working in different occupations whose jobs are exposed to high level of task automation, based on the skill demands / nature of tasks of their job. It is also possible to derive adjusted automation risk figures (although not shown here), by taking into account the share of EU workers who lack access to appropriate training (see Pouliakas, 2018).