Which U.S. Jobs Are Disappearing Fastest?

A long list of U.S. jobs are being rendered obsolete by technological advancements and automation. Which workers are most at risk? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, locomotive firer is the job set to shrink the most over the coming decade. A locomotive firer is responsible for monitoring instruments on trains as well as watching for signals and dragging equipment. The workforce is small, numbering 1,700 in 2014. By 2024, however, that is going to decrease even further to just 500, a decline of 70 percent.

Motor vehicle electionic equipment installers and repairers are also set to see their ranks decimated by 2024. 11,500 of them were employed in the U.S. in 2014 and a decade later, that is expected to fall sharply to 5,800. Telephone operators are the third most endangered profession in America with their numbers expected to drop 42.4 percent by 2024.

Technology has shaped labour markets in the past and it will continue to do so in the future. According to a report from Citi and the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, 85 percent of jobs in Ethiopia are at risk of automation. In the United States, just under half of jobs are at risk of being replaced by machines.

Almost everyone in the developed world enjoys the benefits and advantages brought by modern technology, but as progress continues the risk of these inventions and developments taking away our jobs increases. According to Citi, in the United States in 2016 the city with the most jobs at high risk of being lost to automation are in Fresno, at 53.8 percent. Las Vegas at 49.1 and Greensboro at 48.5 round up the top three.

The Internet is still the dominant U.S. sector for investment, although funding dropped 26 percent in the last quarter of 2016. Despite that fall, it still saw $4.6 billion of investment in Q4 2016 with notable deals including OpenDoor Labs ($210m), Buzzfeed ($200m) and Stripe ($150m), according to CB Insights and PwC.

Over the past 20 years, American Internet companies have attracted $187 billion in investment, the most of any business sector in the country. Healthcare comes second with $150.4 billion since the mid 90s while mobile and telecommunication rounds off the top three with just over $115 billion. At state level, it comes as little surprise California brought in huge levels of investment, fuelled by Silicon Valley's innovation. Over the past 20 years, California attracted $367.8 billion of investment, far ahead of second placed Massachusetts' $80 billion.

According to Pew Research, the majority of Americans feel secure in their jobs today. However, some workers do have a sense of foreboding about several emerging threats. 8 out of 10 Americans say outsourcing hurts American workers with more sales of foreign-made products also high on the threat list. Much has been made of the threat offered by automation but people are actually divided on whether it is beneficial or a hindrance to the labor market. When it comes to the greatest assets for U.S. workers, technology and office technology in particular, is viewed as being most helpful.

42% of the country needs to eat a bullet.

I'd really love the demographic breakdown of who answered that.

Are they being replaced by computers? Airplanes are automated and they still have pilots in case something goes wrong.

Several of the ones in the OP are probably going to other countries (like the factory jobs) while others are just obviously obsolete (like switchboard operators).

Archaic english, how fitting.
Seriously who the fuck uses word 'locomotive' in 21st century?