COMP NEWS – Research titan McKinsey & Co. are worried that automation and AI will replace a swath of low-income workers – with a majority of those affected being women.

Women have more to worry about than men from a coming wave of automation and artificial intelligence that could replace almost a third of hours worked across the US economy.

That’s one of the takeaways from a new report by the research arm of consultants McKinsey & Co. that examines US labor-market trends through the end of 2030.

It calculated that women are 1.5 times more likely to need to move into a new occupation than men during that period. The reason: They’re over-represented in the industries with lower-wage jobs the report reckons will be most impacted by automation, including office support and customer service. Blacks and Hispanics will also be adversely affected as demand for food and production workers shrinks.

The rise of AI is drawing concerns from people who fear that low-wage workers will be swept out of jobs.

What’s concerning, said Institute director Kweilin Ellingrud, is that the churn will be concentrated among low-wage workers. They’re up to 14 times more likely to need to change occupations than those in the highest-wage positions, and most will need additional skills to do so successfully.

White-collar workers – everything from lawyers and teachers to financial advisers and architects — will be among those most affected by the spread of generative artificial intelligence such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to the report. But McKinsey argued that will largely result in changes in how those jobs are carried out, rather than in the destruction of huge swathes of positions.

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