Technology and Future Work

This graph shows the likely proportions and types of jobs to be displaced by 2030 as well as the education levels of people working these jobs. The article discusses how the most likely jobs to be largely automated first will be repetitive or routine jobs such as food production. While the automation will open up countless new jobs, these will likely require more education and higher skill levels. Since lower skilled jobs are easier to automate, a good education will become even more important for people trying to enter the workforce after 2030 if this scenario proves accurate. 
One industry that would be difficult to automate, but will continue to need more workers is the health industry. From my experience shadowing at TCH, I have noticed that one of the major problems at such a big hospital is communication and speed within the hospital. Everything is very slow; some operations last forever because they spend hours waiting for blood or a piece of equipment. With a more competitive job market of highly trained and skilled workers, hospitals might be able to take on more people to improve their efficiency. More people in addition to inevitable automation will make them run much smoother and faster. 


I think it is really interesting to look at these two graphs side by side. The first one shows likely areas of high job displacement by 2030 and the second shows likely areas of high job growth by 2030. Due to automation, rural areas will take the biggest hit in terms of job displacement, while jobs in most major cities will flourish. I think it is interesting that the middle part of the US (excluding Texas), from about Oklahoma and Missouri to Minnesota and North Dakota will remain relatively stagnant. If you put the graphs together, the majority of the blank space on the map would be in this region. I am not sure why that is; it might be simply because there are not a huge amount of densely populated cities in this region, but there is a lot of oil, so there has to be some jobs. I would be curious to know. 
Another thing about these graphs that I don’t totally understand is how some parts of the country could have high job displacement and net growth. Looking at North Alaska for example, does this just mean that some industries become automated and others emerge? 
Overall, these graphs show positive change for future americans if they are highly educated. Unfortunately, life for those that already have it hard is not going to get easier with automation. This really shows how important a good education is, especially in the US. 


“The future of work in America: People and places, today and tomorrow.” McKinsey and 
Company, July 2019. 
https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/future-of-work/the-future-of-work-in-america-people-and-places-today-and-tomorrow. 

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