Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained

McKinsey continues its study of the “future of work” with a new report, “Jobs Lost, Jobs Gained: Workforce Transitions in a Time of Automation.” 

The firm looks at trends with an eye for possible outcomes from 2016 to 2030, when perhaps one third of the American workforce will be forced to gain new skills to find new work. The study finds a global job dislocation of between 400 and 800 million people.

“Faced with the scale of worker transitions we have described, one reaction could be to try to slow the pace and scope of adoption in an attempt to preserve the status quo. While this may limit the workforce transitions, it would affect the contributions that these technologies make to business dynamism and economic growth, via the contribution to productivity growth, and which in turn leads to jobs growth and prosperity,” write the researchers.

McKinsey’s call to action: “We should embrace these technologies but also address the workforce transitions and challenges they bring. In many countries, this may require an initiative on the scale of the Marshall Plan involving sustained investment, new training models, programs to ease worker transitions, income support, and collaboration between the public and private sectors.” 12/14/2017