The future of work after COVID-19: more disruption due to AI and robotics

A recent McKinsey study suggests that there will be more disruption in the global economy after COVID-19 due to AI and robotics than they had predicted in earlier studies of AI.

The core of this new analysis is that jobs that require physical proximity (lunches and cleaning for office workers, lodging for business travelers, and others) will have on-going impacts as we switch a large portion of our work permanently toward remote work, reduce business travel, and expand automation. Some jobs will grow (trucking, delivering, healthcare, IT).

The study expects that further use of AI and robotics will result in large job losses in a broad swath of the economy, particularly in:

• on-site customer interaction
• leisure and hospitality
• computer-based office work
• indoor production
• warehousing

Less-educated workers and women will face a greater level of challenge.

The strategies we need to help in this increasingly uncertain future include:

• Greater protection for low-wage workers in the form of a stronger wage floor and the encouragement of the growth of unions
• New systems of training and support for occupational transitions combined with
• A higher level of bachelor degree completion: This is a signifier of both technical and emotional skills (liberal education is the core)