Women working in tech and financial services are at greater risk of losing their jobs due to increased use of AI and automation than their male peers, according to a report that found experienced women are also being sidelined due to “restrictive hiring processes”.
“Mid-career” women – with at least five years of experience – are being overlooked for digital roles in the tech and financial and professional services sectors, where they have traditionally been underrepresented, according to a report by the City of London Corporation.
The governing body that runs the Square Mile in the capital found that female applicants were discriminated against by strict, and sometimes automatic, screening of their CVs, which did not take into account career gaps related to caring for children or relatives, or only considered their professional experience.
To reverse the trend, the corporation calls on employers to focus on re-skilling female workers who are currently absent from technical roles, especially those in clerical positions most at risk of being displaced by automation.
An estimated 119,000 clerical roles in tech and the financial and professional services sectors, most of which are held by women, will be lost to automation over the next decade. The restructuring of those affected by these job losses would save companies from making payments in excess of £757m, the report found.
Staff development will allow employers to focus on candidates’ potential rather than their past technical experience, the report found. It is estimated that up to 60,000 women in technology leave their roles each year for reasons including lack of advancement, lack of recognition and insufficient pay.
Dame Susan Langley, the mayor of the City of London, said: “By investing in people and supporting the development of digital skills within the workforce, employers can unlock enormous potential and build stronger, more resilient teams.
New surveys show that as many as a quarter of UK workers are concerned that their jobs could be lost in the next five years due to AI, according to a poll by international recruitment company Randstad. Union leaders are calling on companies to commit to investing in workers’ skills and training.
The City of London Corporation has found that women are being overlooked for roles even though difficulties in hiring talent mean that more than 12,000 digital vacancies in these sectors will go unfilled by 2024.
Companies are trying to deal with labor shortages by raising wages above the national average, but the report found that higher wage rates do not solve the problem. It warns that the widening digital talent gap is forecast to last until at least 2035 and that under this scenario the UK could lose more than £10bn of economic growth.