AI-Exposed Jobs Employ More Women

In a?previous newsletter, we highlighted the increasing prevalence of AI in today's workplaces, including its integration into HR departments and Admin jobs. This raises the question: who comprises the workforce in these AI-exposed occupations? In partnership with?Bloomberg, this week we look at the gender and ethnicity distributions among these occupations and investigate the unintended consequences of the adoption of AI technologies for women and people of color.

Using the AI exposure scores built by?Eisfeldt, Schubert, and Zhang, which compare the capabilities of generative AI with the task requirements of jobs, we identified the 15 most AI-exposed occupations and listed them below. These occupations employ more than 10 million employees in the US, the majority of whom are women.

While AI tools like ChatGPT are not trained to replace a specific demographic, the differential effect of AI comes from the uneven distribution of gender across the labor force. For example, women are underrepresented in technical occupations and overrepresented in "supporting" careers like administrative assistants. It happens to be the case that AI's abilities overlap more with support occupations.

Looking at the distribution of people of color paints a similar picture. Many AI-exposed occupations are disproportionately made up of people of color. However, the differences are not as pronounced as for the gender distribution: there are overall 32.9% POC employees in the top exposed jobs—only slightly more than the US average. Nonetheless, it is crucial to acknowledge and address any existing inequities to ensure that the effects of AI adoption do not worsen disparities between ethnic groups.

To see where AI-exposed employees will potentially end up, we examine Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks as a case study. The graph below breaks down the outflows from this role, giving a sense of the typical next steps in the career ladder. The top destination is Accountants and Auditors, which requires a deeper understanding of the regulatory environment. If mastering the intricacies of Accounting and Auditing proves to be challenging for most employees, AI adoption may leave employees struggling to find alternative employment opportunities.

However, there is also a brighter perspective to consider. AI tools can automate mundane and repetitive tasks performed by Clerks, freeing them up to engage in more productive and fulfilling aspects of their jobs. Realizing this positive outcome hinges upon employees gaining the necessary skills, and thus requires investment not only from employees but also from employers and policymakers in upskilling the current workforce.

If you have any ideas of other metrics to track or would like to hear more, please feel free to?reach out.?

Happy Tuesday!

Hakki Ozdenoren, Economist at Revelio Labs

For the full newsletter,?visit our site.

Revelio Labs?provides workforce intelligence. We absorb and standardize hundreds of millions of public employment records to create the world's first universal HR database, allowing us to see current workforce composition and trends of any company. Our customers include investors, corporate strategists, HR teams, and governments. Check out our archive of newsletters?here.