The Rise of Blue-Collar Jobs as AI Threatens Office Work

The Rise of Blue-Collar Jobs as AI Threatens Office Work
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As artificial intelligence continues to advance, a new report suggests that skilled trades and blue-collar jobs are gaining popularity due to their relative immunity to automation, NBC News reported. This trend is being driven by the perception that manual labor roles are more secure than traditional office jobs that rely on data and text.

Geoffrey Hinton, a Nobel Prize-winning computer scientist often called “the Godfather of AI,” has publicly advised people to “train to be a plumber,” noting that manual labor jobs are less at risk from AI than careers like paralegals. This sentiment is supported by a recent list from Microsoft, which identified jobs like roofers, painters, and hazardous material removal workers as being less endangered by AI.

According to Tony Spagnoli, director of North American Technician Excellence, AI cannot replace the improvisational decisions and manual installation required for skilled trades. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also projects growth in these fields, while entry-level jobs for college graduates stagnate.

A recent survey of over 1,400 Gen Z adults by Resume Builder found that 42% of those polled were already working in or pursuing a blue-collar job, with their top motivations being to avoid student debt and reduce the risk of being replaced by AI. However, experts like Ken Goldberg of the University of California, Berkeley, and Andrew Reece of BetterUp, caution that while manual labor is safer for now, advances in robotics and AI could eventually pose a threat to these jobs as well. Still, they emphasize that a significant gap remains between current robotic capabilities and the complex, real-world work performed by humans.