Preparing the Workforce of the Future
Photo by Laurence Dutton/Getty Images
The problem: As technology rapidly transforms the world of work—leading to both job creation and job displacement— it can be very risky for learners to invest in high-cost, long-term training paths. To ensure that such risks pay off, both learners and educational institutions need better information on what skills employers demand and which occupations risk obsolescence. At the same time, employers need better information about how to harness technology in their respective workplaces.
A multidisciplinary approach: Supporting the workforce of the future requires a complex understanding of emerging technologies, evolving jobs, and labor market dynamics.
- Understanding emerging technologies: Researchers have used natural language processing (NLP) to compare job task descriptions and U.S. technology patents awarded between 1976 and 2020 and identify occupational exposure to specific artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, including machine learning, NLP, speech recognition, planning control, AI hardware, computer vision, and evolutionary computation.
- Skills in demand: Researchers have analyzed training needed to meet expected shortages in industrial robot technicians and how AI-enabled technology could replace or augment health care providers.
- Impacts of AI on labor markets: Studies have explored impacts from digital offshoring and lessons on what different sectors can learn from how labor organizations in Hollywood have responded to AI.