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Taking Action Now for An Increasingly Automated Future The jobs created by automation will ultimately exceed those that are lost, but a federal program is needed to successfully navigate the transformation of the labor force. By Jacob Everett, CEcD, Consultant - Site Selection & Incentives, McGuire Sponsel
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ecently, Elon Musk announced plans for the Tesla Bot,1 a humanoid robot that stands 5 feet, 8 inches tall. Musk said the robot “probably won’t work.” I hope he is wrong. Many people have an adverse reaction to discussions of automation and artificial intelligence. While I understand those fears, I believe we need to embrace automation. In fact, let’s put our foot on the gas — or set the autonomous electric vehicle at max speed. But as we accelerate toward automation, we must reposition our workforce for a successful journey. Whatever the outcome, the Tesla Bot is simply the continuation of a process that began decades ago to create ever more sophisticated forms of automation. The pandemic only quickened this movement as companies turned to automation out of necessity (currently 500,000 manufacturing job openings are unfilled) and for strategic reasons (automation can be very attractive financially, especially in the current period of exploding demand).
Navigating the Transformation While some taxation and public policy proposals aim at stopping or slowing the adoption of automation, myriad studies show such measures would be detrimental to the economy. The global economy is expected to struggle in the coming decade to keep up with demand driven by the baby-boom generation entering retirement, while still creating significant demand for goods and services combined with declining global birth rates — 2020 was the
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lowest rate on record in the U.S. Some fears are not unfounded. People worry automation would create mass unemployment. One report estimates 36 million U.S. workers could face job losses due to automation.2 Most experts agree much of this change will occur in the next decade. However, these experts also agree that the global economy will be able to navigate this transformation. A 2020 MIT Task Force on the Work of the Future report projected, “In the next two decades, industrialized countries will have more job openings than workers to fill them.” It further states, “History and economics show no intrinsic conflict among technological change, full employment, and rising earnings.”3 The review of significant work on this topic makes me optimistic about an automated future. I say, bring on the robots. I believe automation is an integral part of a growing global economy, and it has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for millions of workers over the next decade. I also readily admit that this is going to be really hard. Much of the research on this topic suggests we can predict a labor transition en masse rather than mass unemployment. In other words, automation will surely eliminate the need for millions of jobs, but job creation across the economy will exceed those losses. Globally,
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5/26/22 12:43 PM
