A once-in-a-generation convergence of technology and pressure to operate more efficiently has corporations saying many lost jobs may never return. The jobs lost in a monthslong cascade of white-collar layoffs triggered by overhiring and rising interest rates might never return, corporate executives and economists say. Companies are rethinking the value of many white-collar roles, in what some experts anticipate will be a permanent shift in labor demand that will disrupt the work life of millions of Americans whose jobs will be lost, diminished or revamped through the use of artificial intelligence.
"We may be at the peak of the need for knowledge workers," said Atif Rafiq, a former chief digital officer at McDonald's and Volvo. "We just need fewer people to do the same thing." Long after robots began taking manufacturing jobs, artificial intelligence is now coming for the higher-ups -- accountants, software programmers, human-resources specialist and lawyers -- and converging with unyielding pressure on companies to operate more efficiently. [...] The Labor Department projects that of the 20 occupations that will create the most jobs through 2031, about two-thirds will be blue-collar jobs that pay around $32,000 a year, including home-health and personal-care aides, restaurant cooks, fast-food workers, wait staff and freight movers. The professions with the best prospects for growth that require a college degree include software developers, operations managers and registered nurses. Those jobs pay around $100,000 a year and are forecast to be better protected than other white-collar work from AI displacement.
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