Generative AI: How will it affect future jobs and workflows?
Sep 21, 2023
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Explore the implications of generative AI and its impact on future jobs. Learn about the changing labor market and the need for reskilling and support for workers. Discover the potential automation of tasks by generative AI and the importance of occupational transitions. Dive into the role of renewable energy and infrastructure renewal in job creation. Understand the factors affecting the labor market and the need for upskilling in the face of automation and generative AI.
Generative AI will disrupt and enhance different jobs, with lower-wage jobs being more affected than higher-wage ones.
Around 80% of expected occupational transitions will be in shrinking fields, requiring reskilling and upskilling to match the needs of the growing job market.
Deep dives
The Future of Work and the Impact of Generative AI
Generative AI will affect future jobs, but it's not all negative. Due to demographic trends and increased consumption, there will actually be more jobs in the future. However, generative AI will disrupt and enhance different jobs, with lower-wage jobs being more affected than higher-wage ones.
Occupational Changes and Reskilling Needs
COVID and generative AI have caused significant changes in the labor market. Growing occupations include healthcare, STEM, transportation, and delivery, while customer service, food service, and manufacturing are shrinking. Around 80% of expected occupational transitions will be in these shrinking fields, requiring reskilling and upskilling to match the needs of the growing job market.
The Role of Employers and Government
Employers play a crucial role in upskilling and reskilling workers. Hiring based on skills rather than credentials can provide opportunities for individuals to transition into higher-demand roles. Public-private partnerships and federal programs can also support workforce development. Additionally, the federal government's investments in infrastructure renewal and achieving net zero goals will create job opportunities, but workers will need to adapt and upskill for the changing labor market.
As companies struggle to understand the implications and applications of generative AI, one thing seems clear: AI and its future iterations are not going anywhere. On this episode of The McKinsey Podcast, senior partner Kweilin Ellingrud and partner Saurabh Sanghvi share findings from McKinsey’s latest report on gen AI with editorial director Roberta Fusaro and explain why companies must pivot to embrace the technology itself and the deep and lasting changes it may create. Individual and organizational adaptability will be critical.
Also on this episode, the advent of gen AI has many people thinking about the future of their jobs. Joanne Lipman, author of Next! The Power of Reinvention in Life and Work (Mariner Books, March 2023), shares a four-step process for figuring out where you might go next and how you’ll get there, in our Author Talks series.
The McKinsey Podcast is cohosted by Roberta Fusaro and Lucia Rahilly.
Theme music produced, composed, and performed by Joy Ngiaw.
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