deskillv.
/diːˈskɪl/ transitive. To convert (a workplace, employment) from one that requires a skilled worker or workers to one that does not; to reduce the number of skilled workers in (an industry); of new technology, etc.: to render (a skilled worker) unskilled.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour supply > [verb (transitive)] > reduce number of skilled workers
deskill1941
1941 Country Life 1 Feb. 93/1 Civil servants are adept at the creation of composite words... One of the latest examples is the verb ‘to de-skill’, which is, we believe, applied to factories and refers to the increasing [use] of unskilled labour in them.
1967 Observer 28 May (Colour Suppl.) 30/2 The cutlery business..needs to be ‘de-skilled’, because most of the highly skilled people in it are nearer 75 than 25.
1982 Spectator 11 Dec. 17/2 In doing so they also deskill the typist's job and, by increasing office productivity, lead to an overall decrease in secretarial jobs in the longer term.
Derivatives
deˈskilled adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour supply > [adjective] > with reduced number of skilled workers
deskilled1982
society > occupation and work > workplace > types of workplace generally > [adjective] > converted to one without skilled workers
deskilled1982
1982 J. Naisbitt Megatrends (1984) i. 31 He found that production and service jobs tended to become ‘deskilled’ when technology is added.
1985 Guardian 6 Apr. 4/6 It will signal a casualised and deskilled Post Office.
deˈskilling n.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour supply > [noun] > reducing number of skilled workers
dilution1916
deskilling1976
1976 Film & Television Technician Nov. 3/3 What about the reported ‘de-skilling’ of television programme operations reported from the USA where the revolution is in full swing?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1989; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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v.1941