Retrain workers for occupations complementary to, rather than competing with, automation¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 mixed) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The report recommends public policy responses to AI-driven automation of tasks, which it says will likely increase productivity and wealth but reduce demand for some automatable skills. It states: "Public policy can address these risks, ensuring that workers are retrained and able to succeed in occupations that are complementary to, rather than competing with, automation." It also calls for policy ensuring AI's economic benefits are shared broadly.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Public policy mechanisms to fund and deliver retraining so workers can move into automation-complementary occupations

Constraints¶

• The report cites CEA analysis suggesting the negative effect of automation will be greatest on lower-wage jobs, with a risk of increasing the wage gap between less-educated and more-educated workers

Target Learners¶

• displaced and at-risk adult workers
• less-educated workers most affected by automation

Target Learning Goals¶

• workforce retraining for occupations complementary to automation

Claims¶

• Most of the 756 occupations tracked by the Anthropic Economic Index show zero observed AI usage, concentrated in hands-on physical occupations [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Use updated occupational education and retraining programs, including cooperative on-the-job instruction, to re-employ workers displaced by technological change
• Expand Pell Grant eligibility to short occupational programs as a strategy for helping displaced workers and low-income adults earn credentials quickly
• Use employer-based earn-and-learn apprenticeship as a workforce training pathway outside traditional construction occupations
• Integrate AI task literacy into CTE curricula now, ahead of employer adoption

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Technology. (2016). Preparing for the Future of Artificial Intelligence. Executive Office of the President. https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp