Keen On America The All-Collar Crisis: When White Collar Work Meets Blue-Collar Reality
Jan 2, 2026
Julia Hobsbawm, founder of Workathon.io and a prominent voice on the future of work, discusses the looming crisis for white-collar workers in an AI-driven world. She predicts by 2030, half of the U.S. workforce will be freelance, reshaping job security. Julia highlights the connection between geopolitics and employment, the rise of gig work, and the need for corporate leaders to foster trust through genuine storytelling. With echoes of history, she emphasizes that crises can birth opportunities, urging a global roadmap for the future of work.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
AI Has Already Triggered A Work Crisis
- AI has already triggered an existential work crisis by making many white-collar workers feel obsolete.
- Julia Hobsbawm argues 2026 will continue this shift rather than start it, deepening anxiety about meaning and purpose.
Geopolitics Shapes The Future Of Work
- Geopolitics and supply chains interact with technological change to reshape where work's center of gravity sits.
- Hobsbawm warns America may no longer singly set the tone for global work as geopolitical risks rise.
Plan For Cyber And Tech Outages
- Prepare for technological shocks by prioritizing cyber resilience and outage planning.
- Hobsbawm notes major outages and cyber risk could cause the most damaging interruption to work.