Week 1 Blog Post #2- MBA 6601

The Disappearing White-Collar Job 

I have been a Government employee for 10 years and a prior to that a corporate world employee for 11 years. I have seen an array of all things from mass hiring to mass firing. Thankfully, I have never been part of the latter. Fortunately, the Government hires the employees they need and if restructures are needed, they can place those individuals in other departments. Whereas the corporate world will hire more than they need only to ultimately realize that the same job can be done with lesser employees. This can look like employees taking on more work due to lack of hands on personnel, overtime and then eventually burnout. This factor doesn't seem to scare employers though since everyone is dispensable and replaceable in their minds. 

In the article, "The Disappearing White-Collar Job" by Chip Cutter and Harriet Torry they describe that the white-collar jobs are rising in unemployment faster than we know and the reason could be replaced by artificial intelligence. When I hear "AI" and job cuts I think warehouses and line workers that are being replaced by the mechanics of AI. This article depicts that is the opposite and it is in fact those who are in higher positions such as accountants, software programmers, human resource specialists and more that are being axed from companies. What the industry will look like 20 years from now, no one knows. As mentioned in Todd Kelsey's "Surfing the Tsunami", AI is not predictable but we should care and pay attention to what is happening and where it is going.   

Source:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-disappearing-white-collar-job-af0bd925?mod=mhp 

https://www.amazon.com/Surfing-Tsunami-Introduction-Artificial-Intelligence/dp/1976756340