In a few decades, we will be left with skilled jobs that only people with certain innate abilities can perform (after substantial training), and menial jobs that anyone can do with very little training.
In a few decades, we will be left with skilled jobs that only people with certain innate abilities can perform (after substantial training), and menial jobs that anyone can do with very little training.
For example I would never consider replacing a gas boiler myself as it stands, but what if it was just a slot in unit of standardised size with simple idiot proof connectors no one could get wrong? What if it's an electrical heat pump with no explosive gases or carbon monoxide safety to worry about? Even if the home owner doesn't want to replace it, it might get simple enough that a lightly trained delivery truck driver could do it. For example the delivery guy installed my washing machine, not a plumber.
I come from a DIY family, I don't think skill is the primary barrier. The "why would you do that when you can just pay someone to do it?" attitude is pervasive. That's not a dismissive characterization either, that's paraphrasing as best I can what a friend said when another friend and I were on the couch watching a youtube maker video. And it's an attitude I've heard again and again over the years.
This is not to say that I disagree with you, but being adaptable is more important than being just skilled. A lot of those typists eventually became secretaries and then spread further out to different parts of organisations, and a lot of them are still there. It’s only the people who don’t adapt who get left behind, and I’d like to point out here that I’m not a fan of that term. As I am Scandinavian that is probably of little surprise to people, but I think society has a responsibility to keep people useful so long that we require them to work until they are 73+.
The correlation between "almost any human can do it with sufficient training" and "amenable to automation" is weak to non-existing.