The future of employment on this planet is bleak, according to the analysis by McKinsey Global Institute, which predicts that hundreds of millions of workers across the globe will find themselves out of work due to automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and other technological innovations by 2030.
In a massive report, McKinsey says that upwards of 375 million workers—38.6 million of those in the U.S.—will be displaced from their jobs. The lucky ones will find new employment opportunities. The unlucky? Well, maaaybe someday we'll live in a world with basic universal income, which would not only keep food on the table, but, experts say, would also grow the U.S. economy by nearly 13 percent ... but probably not. Instead, you may want to either marry for money or gain skills that are harder to automate. (Slogging comes to mind. Can't train a bot to do that... yet.)
According to McKinsey, "Activities most susceptible to automation include physical ones in predictable environments, such as operating machinery and preparing fast food. Collecting and processing data are two other categories of activities that increasingly can be done better and faster with machines. This could displace large amounts of labor—for instance, in mortgage origination, paralegal work, accounting, and back-office transaction processing."
The news is rosier for people in creative occupations, as well as for tech professionals, teachers, and those in management, building, and health care, all of which are predicted to grow.
Of course, automation isn't exactly new. From farms and mines to factories, grocery store checkouts, and do-it-yourself taxes, tech has been killing jobs for, literally, centuries. The difference now, however, is sheer size, and addressing the coming crisis will require, McKinsey writes, "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." That, or a very rich spouse.
