A newly released report suggests that manufacturing is among the industries that are most vulnerable to automation over the next decade.
Consulting firm McKinsey & Co. said that nearly 60 percent of all manufacturing activities could be performed by automated machines with currently available technology, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Numerous manufacturing jobs -- including welding, cutting and soldering -- could see up to 90 percent of their tasks performed by machines.
McKinsey based its analysis on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and other sources. Researchers reviewed thousands of work tasks performed by more than 800 occupations, then ranked those tasks by their vulnerability to automation.
Predictable or repetitive tasks -- which accounted for about 20 percent of overall U.S. work activity, analysts said -- were classified as more likely to be automated. The food service sector was designated as the most vulnerable, with retail joining manufacturing near the top of the list.
Health care and education jobs, meanwhile, remained unlikely to fall victim to automation.
A report last year estimated that growing automation capabilities could jeopardize nearly half of all U.S. jobs, but McKinsey noted that many industries -- particularly those with a cheap supply of labor -- would not be quick to embrace those technologies.