Jobs that have been replaced by technology

From giant corporations to university libraries to start-up businesses, employers are using rapidly improving technology to do tasks that humans used to do. That means millions of workers are caught in a competition they can’t win against machines that keep getting more powerful, cheaper, and easier to use.Take a look at some of the jobs that have been replaced by technology.

Left: Mail carrier Mike Gillis delivered mail in Montpelier, Vt., in 2011.Right: Microsoft Outlook was demonstrated on a desktop computer in New York in 2013. The number of “mail carriers” in the United States fell 10 percent from 358,000 to 321,000 in 10 years through 2010.

Left: Tori Stinson at Meadowbrook Insurance Co. checked a client’s paperwork in Southfield, Mich., in 2004.Right: The TurboTax online tax computer program was displayed on a computer in Palo Alto, Calif., in 2008. The number of bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks fell from 1.7 million to 1.3 million in the United States in 10 years through 2010.

Left: An information technology room in Hurst, Texas, in 2001.Right: An SAP server room in Walldorf, Germany, in 2012. SAP allows companies to use cloud computing to track sales and inventory without needing to hire IT employees.

Left: A train conductor in New Brunswick, N.J., in 2011.Right: Tokyo’s Yurikamome Line ran without any drivers or conductors along Tokyo Bay in 2013. Katsuya Hagane, the manager in charge of operations at New Transit Yurikamome, with just 60 regular employees, says the automated system helps keeps hiring down.

Left: Passengers checked in at an American Airlines ticketing counter in Dallas in 2011.Right: A row of self-check-in kiosks in Seattle in 2012.Many middle-class workers have lost jobs because powerful software and computerized machines are doing tasks that only humans could do before.

Left: Toll collector Anthony Morris worked a booth at the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in Catskill, N.Y., in 2012.Right: Manisha Padhye held up an E-Z Pass in Broadview Heights, Ohio, in 2009. Many middle-class workers have lost jobs because powerful software and computerized machines are doing tasks that only humans could do before.

Left: The General Services Administration telephone switchboard and its operators in 1951.Right: Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, on the Apple iPhone 4S in San Francisco in 2011. The number of US switchboard and telephone operators fell from 182,000 to 73,000 in 10 years through 2010 because of new technology.

Left: Yolanda Boozer, a secretary in the office of President Lyndon B. Johnson in Washington , in 1963.Right: A reminder application as demonstrated on an iPhone in New York , in 2013. The number of US secretaries and administrative assistants fell from 4.2 million to 3.1 million in 10 years through 2010.

Left: Travel agent Gabriele Herlitschka leafedg through an Asia and Australia travel catalogue in her travel agency office in Duesseldorf, Germany, in 2002.Right: Expedia worker Mike Brown in an alcove set up for employees in Bellevue, Wash., in 2013. The number travel agents fell 46 percent from 142,000 to 76,000 in 10 years through 2010.

Left: A teller at the Taipei Bankin Taipei, Taiwan, , in 2002.Right: The 2011 Bank of America mobile application on a mobile device. Many middle-class workers have lost jobs because powerful software and computerized machines are doing tasks that only humans could do before.

Left: Head of the Library of Congress storage facility in Washington in 2003.Right: A “bookBot,” an automated retrieval system at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, N.C., in 2013, Many middle-class workers have lost jobs because powerful software and computerized machines are doing tasks that only humans could do before.

Left: Assembling a motor in a Mercedes Benz factory in Berlin in 2008.Right: A robot painted a brake drum at Webb Wheel Products in Cullman, Ala., , in 2013. Thanks to robots, Webb Wheel hasn’t added a factory worker in over three years, though it’s making 300,000 more drums annually, a 25 percent increase.