Any serious discussion of the challenges confronting the modern workforce must include an evaluation of the impact of artificial intelligence (AI). Like every transformative technology that has come before it, AI has generated both optimism and apprehension, as workers and industries weigh its potential benefits against its inevitable labor market consequences.
The reasons new industries are able to surpass established players are often outdated business models, and capitalism encourages innovation and fresh thinking to contribute to the constant evolution of our economy. Our world will look different with the introduction of every major inventive shift, and perhaps instead of fighting it, we can work with it, reap its benefits and utilize it to push our workers forward.
Previous technological innovations primarily affected blue-collar work, replacing hands-on labor with more efficient and predictable machinery. However, this time around is different as AI is more likely to disrupt white-collar work, particularly in middle-to-high-paid professions. With the significant overlap of tasks performed in these professions and AI’s capability, white-collar workers are at significant risk of job loss.
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It is crucial to note that a high percentage of overlap in tasks does not necessarily mean that AI can entirely replace a role. If automation can execute simpler tasks within a job role, the remaining work tends to be more difficult and involved, meaning the workers tasked with this role are more valued and often better paid. Thus, automation may actually drive up wages and increase demand for some types of white-collar work, but it does reduce the total number of employees needed, putting many workers at risk of unemployment.
So, the careers that have been stigmatized for their lack of baccalaureate degree requirements in the past just might be the best jobs for the future as AI-powered tools are simply not able to take over those specialized and uniquely human skills. However, AI is limited in its ability to execute complex problem-solving, high-level management and social interaction, all of which are essential skills in trade and health-care careers.
Even if AI is able to automate some of the more routine tasks in the workplace, tradespeople are further insulated from AI-driven job displacements because of the unique need for human touch in these roles. For example, in HVAC work, AI algorithms may help diagnose issues, but human experts must then step in to execute the work and respond to real-time challenges with careful judgment, manual dexterity and complex problem-solving. Beyond the physical execution of the task, tradespeople are also regularly in roles for which customer interaction and emotional intelligence are required. Even if technology were to eliminate certain tasks in trade careers, it can’t replace empathy and rapport as easily.
Taken altogether, the persistence of workforce shortages in the trades, the threat of an aging workforce, the effects of current immigration policy, and long-standing stigmatization of the trades create a compounding effect that threatens the future of the American workforce. Employers are becoming increasingly desperate to fill open roles to sustain and grow our infrastructure, but without workers who both want to work and have the necessary skill sets, there’s little they can do. Projects are stalling, and supply chains are slowing down while costs for businesses and consumers rise. Without timely and effective action to rectify the issues of the worker pipeline, economic growth will surely weaken.
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Beyond the construction of AI infrastructure, though, the growth of AI, robotics and other technologies will create a new skills gap; these technologies require operators familiar with their function and repairmen who can quickly diagnose and solve problems. To meet this challenge, U.S. policymakers, employers and schools should consider AI education and training equally important to the trades and health-care professions when considering options to address future workforce shortages.
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In many ways, our education system is ill-equipped to rise to the challenge. The advent of AI, combined with a declining labor participation rate and growing workforce shortages, necessitates bold and decisive action, yet, for the most part, America’s education system continues to plod along in largely the same way it has for the past 100 years.
When job displacements, new economic opportunities and changing educational paradigms converge, resourcefulness and adaptability become all the more important. The landscape of AI and how it interacts with our educational and working world is constantly evolving, with new developments coming out seemingly every day. Successful workers and companies will integrate AI into their workflows to maximize efficiency while continuing to maintain the humanity of their professions to provide the best goods and services possible with the resources available.
In meeting today’s workforce challenge, trade schools can harness the power of that wind to propel students and workers toward jobs that employers value and that cannot be easily automated or outsourced to AI. This moment creates an opportunity to realign education with employment, expand hands-on learning, and elevate careers in high-demand fields such as health care, technology, and the skilled trades. But it will take a national commitment to fully capitalize on this opportunity. Bridging the skills gap is a national imperative and should be treated as such.
Riley Burr serves as executive director of the CECU (Career Education Colleges and Universities) Research Foundation and is vice president of policy and research at CECU.
