# What jobs have been eliminated due to automation. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 13, 2019, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588 "2019-08-13T02:41:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/21 "2019-08-13T13:07:14Z")
> [@Mcmechanic](#): > > From the recent threads on automation, I’m wanting to compile a list of jobs that have been eliminated due to automation. Why? No reason, just think it’ll be fun. Now I’m talking about completely eliminated where it no longer exists. > The first one I can come up with is telephone operator. Like the one’s that used to connect wires to other wires. Completely eliminated? I think only elevator operators have completely been eliminated. I believe that there are still telephone operators who are basically receptionists and can transfer you to your party, blah blah blah. If we go back a bit, I think telegraph operator has actually been officially removed as a job by the government. Generally, while automation eliminates some or even most jobs it doesn’t eliminate them all. I found [this](https://qz.com/932516/over-the-last-60-years-automation-has-totally-eliminated-just-one-us-occupation/) article that kind of explains the concept, and there is a helpful chart: > [@](#): > > Automation often replaces human labor, but very rarely in the last sixty years has it eliminated an entire occupation. > > Only one of the 270 detailed occupations listed in the 1950 US Census has since been eliminated by automation, according to a working paper by Harvard economist James Bessen. The one exception: elevator operator. > > While the government has removed other occupations from the Census due to factors like lack of demand (boardinghouse keepers) and technological obsolescence (telegraph operators), only elevator operators owe their occupation’s demise mostly to automation, Bessen found. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/22 "2019-08-13T14:03:00Z")
> [@campp](#): > > The railroads have dropped employment in all sectors. 70 years ago, the move from steam to diesel took a lot of labor out. In the early 1950s, my father was in college, and had a summer job working for the local railroad. He was hired as a fireman (whose job entailed shoveling coal and managing the fire), despite the fact that the railroad had just finished the switch to diesel-electric locomotives – I’m not sure if it was due to the laws still requiring firemen, or a labor contract requiring them, but the net of it was that he worked as a fireman, on a diesel locomotive. He said that his job largely entailed riding around in an locomotive and waving to children. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/23 "2019-08-13T14:16:53Z")
> [@XT](#): > > Completely eliminated? I think only elevator operators have completely been eliminated. There’s at least one public building I know of which still has manual elevators, and actual elevator operators (who do more than just push buttons): the [Fine Arts Building](https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/January-2018/The-Last-Manual-Elevator/), in downtown Chicago. But, yes, it’s a job that’s close enough to extinct to qualify as “completely eliminated.” ---
**Author:** ![Akaj](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/akaj/32/145_2.png) [@Akaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akaj)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/24 "2019-08-13T15:10:48Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Will the future bring crew-less trains? Probably. Eventually. Right now it’s an order of magnitude more difficult than the current driver-less big rigs on the highway. We’ll see. Why would autonomous trains be \*more \*difficult than autonomous trucks? Trucks on the highway have far more variables to manage than trains on rails. Trains don’t have other trains changing lanes in front of them. They don’t even have to steer. ---
**Author:** ![Author\_Balk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/25 "2019-08-13T15:58:35Z")
I don’t think there are any keypunch operators anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/26 "2019-08-13T18:43:16Z")
Open outcry floor traders are _almost_ completely [gone](https://nypost.com/2019/08/04/nyse-floor-traders-are-facing-job-extinction/). There are still a few left on the NYSE floor and in the CBOE options pits. Most of the Chicago commodities pits have gone completely electronic. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/27 "2019-08-13T18:44:20Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > They haven’t been automated away, though. The work is now done by the consumer instead, right? I mean, you could pump your own gas when the machines were totally analog. Along these lines are those self-checkout lines – that seems like it would be a better example, because the scanners take all the guesswork out of ringing up groceries, except that there are still plenty of register workers. Unless I get paid for doing it, it isn’t a job. Grocery store checkout people are not going to be eliminated anytime soon since you need to be 21 to buy alcohol. The gas pumpers of old have become convenience store cashiers, and there are a lot fewer of them. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/28 "2019-08-13T18:50:44Z")
Assembly lines [used to be](https://www.google.com/search?q=original+ford+assembly+line&client=firefox-b-1-d&channel=tus&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjctLbGwYDkAhXLrlQKHRSEByMQ_AUIEigC&biw=923&bih=457) more about there being _people_ lined up, and I’m sure that many of the specific jobs on such lines have been completely eliminated. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/29 "2019-08-13T19:01:05Z")
**Mr. McGuire:** I want to say one word to you. Just one word. **Benjamin:** Yes, sir. **Mr. McGuire:** Are you listening? **Benjamin:** Yes, I am. **Mr. McGuire** : “Buggy whips.” **Benjamin:** Exactly how do you mean? **Mr. McGuire:** There’s a great future in buggy whips. Think about it. Will you think about it? **Benjamin:** Dude… ‘buggy whips’ is like, TWO words. **Mr. McGuire** : Alright. ‘Plastics’ then. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/30 "2019-08-13T20:06:45Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Unless I get paid for doing it, it isn’t a job. Grocery store checkout people are not going to be eliminated anytime soon since you need to be 21 to buy alcohol. The gas pumpers of old have become convenience store cashiers, and there are a lot fewer of them. Right, but the gas station attendants never had to be there, right? They were there as a service and that service has been taken away – it wasn’t due to automation. That’s really my point. Unless you mean some early gas pumps that had to be pumped by hand or something? Before my time. It’s like saying free meals in economy flights have been automated away – no, they just stopped providing them. Same with the gas station attendants. It’s funny, because in NJ, we have people who pump our gas, but you generally can’t buy alcohol in grocery stores, so those could be automated away. Of the dozens of supermarkets near me, I can only think of two that sell beer, wine, or liquor. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/31 "2019-08-13T20:27:21Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > How about typesetters? Does anyone actually lay out type anymore? Sure they do; they just use computer software. Physical, movable type is relegated to boutique projects. ---
**Author:** ![neutro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc8723/32.png) [@neutro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutro)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/32 "2019-08-13T20:41:28Z")
There are exceptions for almost every job listed. Elevator operators? I still have seen a couple of them in the last year (in tourist tower type things). Telephone operators still exist within a lot of companies to direct calls to the appropriate department. Certainly banks of people on the phone are still common although they aren’t physically moving wires around. Home milk delivery is available in my area and we’ve even used it. Keypunch operators are gone, but generically they were data entry of which there is still a ton. Overall it’s hard to find jobs that are completely eliminated. Harder still if you look worldwide (e.g. not every cow on earth is attached to a machine). Overall this automation thing is kinda BS. We are really good at optimizing mass production but we suck at optimizing anything bespoke. You can automate a factor to use less labor and get more output per input of labor, but machines require a lot of maintenance. So you can produce more product cheaper and sell more but you can’t necessarily apply this to things not made in a factory. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/33 "2019-08-13T21:12:08Z")
No more professional [Knocker-uppers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knocker-up) thanks to reliable alarm clocks. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/34 "2019-08-13T21:22:43Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Grocery store checkout people are not going to be eliminated anytime soon since you need to be 21 to buy alcohol. There are tobacco & alcohol vending machines all over Japan, and many/most have age verification. Older ones use ID cards issued by the tobacco industry. Newer ones can read the standard driver’s license. Some use facial recognition to estimate the customer’s age. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/35 "2019-08-13T21:29:54Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > Right, but the gas station attendants never had to be there, right? They were there as a service and that service has been taken away – it wasn’t due to automation. Self-service gas stations require some automation, unless you want to go to a totally honor system (let the customer tell the cashier how much gas they put in). And I think it was the automated pumps with built-in credit card readers that finally made the gas station attendants obsolete. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/36 "2019-08-13T21:38:02Z")
> [@Akaj](#): > > Why would autonomous trains be \*more \*difficult than autonomous trucks? Trucks on the highway have far more variables to manage than trains on rails. Trains don’t have other trains changing lanes in front of them. They don’t even have to steer. Because a 12,000 foot long vehicle that weighs thousands of times what one truck does, all while going up and down hills, and because it can’t stop really quickly. Drone trucks? OK, let’s see how that goes for a few years. Drone trains? I’m just positing it is quite a bit more difficult to control trains without continuous organic feedback. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/37 "2019-08-13T21:44:40Z")
> [@campp](#): > > Because a 12,000 foot long vehicle that weighs thousands of times what one truck does, all while going up and down hills, and because it can’t stop really quickly. How would that make automation harder, though? ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/38 "2019-08-13T22:13:08Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > **Leaffan** had a good one with airline navigators – there used to always be three people in the cockpit. I think the last plane that needed that were older 747s, right? That third person in the cockpit was actually the flight engineer. But I believe there was a time even longer ago when there were four people in the cockpit: two pilots, a flight engineer, and a navigator\*. Around the 1950s or 60s technology eliminated the need for full time navigators in the cockpit, although I’ve read that at least in some countries pilots were expected to know how to used a sextant and navigate by stars into the 1970s. Meanwhile, I believe the flight engineer’s job was to monitor and manage the various systems on the plane during the flight, although not being a pilot I don’t know exactly what that entailed. Automation eliminated this job on pretty much any plane designed from the 1980s on. There are probably still a handful of older 747 and DC-10s and such flying for cargo companies that require flight engineers, but these days the crewmember filling the flight engineer is simple a lower ranking pilot. It used to be that “professional flight engineer” was a career unto itself that didn’t require being a pilot, but rather having a detailed knowledge of the plane’s systems. \*If you’ve ever seen the old _Twilight Zone_ episode “The Odyssey of Flight 33”, they actually portray a 707 with 5 men (of course they were all men, it was the 1960s) in the cockpit. It seemed like they were supposed to be captain, first officer, flight engineer, navigator, and radio operator. I suspect this was dramatic license; I’m not aware of any commercial aircraft having that many people in the cockpit, at least in the jet age. I think a WWII era bomber would have been crewed that way, though, so maybe that’s where the writers got that idea. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/39 "2019-08-13T22:13:41Z")
Haven’t seen those dudes who go around each evening lighting the gas street lamps for a while. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588/40 "2019-08-13T22:23:58Z")
Secretaries aren’t completely gone, but many of the duties they used to perform (taking phone messages, managing the boss’s calendar, etc.) are now performed my technologies like voicemail and Microsoft Outlook. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-jobs-have-been-eliminated-due-to-automation/838588.md?page=3)