As indicated by writer Josh Zumbrun, are recently as the mid-1980s, one could categorize American workers into four groups, three of which numbered about thirty million people apiece. Approximately thirty one million people were involved with non-routine cognitive jobs, often referred to as knowledge work.
These knowledge workers engaged in varied intellectual tasks and are often in professional, technical or managerial occupations. Just under thirty million people had jobs consisting of routine manual work, for instance on assembly lines or in warehouses.
Another approximately thirty million people were in positions consisting of routine office work, including bookkeepers, filing clerks, bank tellers, etc. The fourth category is a smaller group that performs non-routine manual tasks, including many in service occupations.
Zumbrun suggests that over the past three decades, almost all employment growth has emerged from the two categories of work that are non-routine. Meanwhile, routine jobs have been under significant pressure, particularly during period of recession.
Economists believe this is happening because routine jobs are naturally more susceptible to automation, with spreadsheets replacing bookkeepers and robots displacing people on assembly lines.
