The Impact Of AI On Employment Demands New Thinking

Donald Trump won the US presidency in large part on a promise to help American workers displaced by trade and technology. That’s a worthy goal, but if he wants to deliver, he’ll have to rethink his approach. Above all, he’ll need to recognise that the modern economy is not just about digging holes and bashing metal.

To date, Trump has focused narrowly on industries such as mining and manufacturing, for example, by loosening environmental regulations on coal producers and by haranguing automakers in an attempt to keep jobs in the US.

These efforts are woefully misdirected, and not just because technological progress and global competition should be embraced and not blocked. It’s also a matter of scale. Today, goods-producing industries have far fewer jobs at risk than the vastly larger services sector.

As a new Bloomberg analysis demonstrates, businesses such as department stores and landline telecommunications have recently become the biggest job losers among 350 subsectors of the economy. To be sure, overall employment in services has gone up since Trump won the election last November, but the effect of job displacement on many individual industries and their workers has been severe.

The coming decades may be even more disruptive. Artificial intelligence is threatening new swathes of the labor force. Researchers at the University of Oxford estimate that nearly half of all US jobs, about 69 million, are vulnerable, particularly such low-wage occupations as office clerks, food servers and cashiers.

Such projections are speculative, and it’s impossible to say exactly how technological change will affect the workforce. But even if the losses are smaller than the scariest estimates, and even if new, as-yet-unimagined occupations arise to take up the slack, millions will face the huge task of adjusting. They will have to find new careers, learn new skills, and move to where their labor is in demand.

The US is ill-prepared for this challenge. The main government retraining program, Trade Adjustment Assistance, focuses on manufacturing jobs that have shifted overseas or succumbed to foreign competition.

That’s far too narrow. And little is being done to attack the other obstacles that make it harder for workers to switch jobs: the difficulty of moving without losing government benefits, zoning rules that make it hard for low-income workers to find affordable homes, occupational licensing that’s needlessly strict, and more.

The US needs to furnish opportunities for retraining to all who lose a job through no fault of their own. Every level of government should cooperate with employers to create more ambitious and effective apprenticeship programs. Benefits should be more portable and other barriers to mobility, geographic and occupational, should be urgently identified and removed.

The future of jobs needs to be a much higher priority, and the president and Congress need to think a lot bigger.

Information-Management:

You Might Also Read: 

Around Half Of Human Jobs Can Be Automated Now:

Welcome To A World Without Work (W3):

 

« US Needs To Get Its Data Ready For GDPR
Cyber Warfare Takes A New Turn »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Cyber Security Supplier Directory

Cyber Security Supplier Directory

Our Supplier Directory lists 6,000+ specialist cyber security service providers in 128 countries worldwide. IS YOUR ORGANISATION LISTED?

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout

DigitalStakeout enables cyber security professionals to reduce cyber risk to their organization with proactive security solutions, providing immediate improvement in security posture and ROI.

LockLizard

LockLizard

Locklizard provides PDF DRM software that protects PDF documents from unauthorized access and misuse. Share and sell documents securely - prevent document leakage, sharing and piracy.

Practice Labs

Practice Labs

Practice Labs is an IT competency hub, where live-lab environments give access to real equipment for hands-on practice of essential cybersecurity skills.

GFI Software

GFI Software

GFI Software works with System Administrators, IT Professionals and IT Executives to ensure that their IT infrastructures are monitored, managed, secured and compliant.

Coalfire

Coalfire

Coalfire specialises in cyber risk management and compliance. Our services span the cybersecurity lifecycle from advisory and compliance, to testing and engineering, monitoring and optimization.

Lastline

Lastline

Lastline is the leader in advanced malware protection.

Aeriandi

Aeriandi

Aeriandi is a leading provider of hosted PCI security compliance solutions for call centres, trusted by high street banks and major Telcos.

Cradlepoint

Cradlepoint

With Cradlepoint customers leverage the speed and economics of wired and wireless Internet broadband for branch, mobile, and IoT networks while maintaining end-to-end visibility, security and control.

Infosec (T) Ltd

Infosec (T) Ltd

Infosec (T) Limited is an independent Tanzania based consultancy specializing in IT governance, information security and IT audit.

Span

Span

Span designs, develops and maintains information systems based on advanced technological solutions of global IT leaders.

Relution

Relution

Relution is the Unified Endpoint Management platform for innovative companies and educational institutions. It enables you to manage your mobile apps and devices easily and securely.

Leadcomm

Leadcomm

Leadcomm is a Brazilian company focused on the distribution and integration of IT systems and security solutions for large companies.

TES

TES

TES is a provider of IT Lifecycle Services, offering bespoke solutions that help customers manage the commissioning, deployment and retirement of Information Technology assets.

Guardara

Guardara

Guardara's mission is to help our customers to continuously improve in every aspect of software development.

Xscale Accelerator

Xscale Accelerator

Xscale's vision is to create world-class startups out of India by transforming sales and providing access to global markets.

Cyber Security Works (CSW)

Cyber Security Works (CSW)

Cyber Security Works is your organization’s early cybersecurity warning system to help prevent attacks before they happen.

First Focus

First Focus

First Focus is a managed service provider for medium-sized organisations.

SecurEnvoy

SecurEnvoy

SecurEnvoy are a leader in designing zero access trust solutions using the latest cutting-edge technologies, to protect your users, devices and data, whatever the location.

Verastel

Verastel

Specializing in the niche space of proactive cyber-defense, and adaptive resilience, team Verastel is bolstering enterprise digital security like never before.