The robots are coming.
That’s the fear of many.
What do we do if machines replace workers in jobs few thought could be automated? Will there be massive unemployment? Will we have to endure millions of people sitting around with nothing to do?
Don’t bet on it. Right now, we have more jobs available than workers looking for work.
Also, American workers are eager to embrace the future and are willing to take responsibility in adapting to a new workforce.
The Harvard Business School surveyed 11,000 “middle-skilled” workers (those with less than four years of college education) around the world.
American workers were the “most likely to hold themselves, rather than companies, or government, responsible” than those in other countries for preparing for the workforce of the future.
“We found that U.S. workers had the greatest sense of optimism, engagement, and agency in the face of momentous changes in technology and global markets —compared to workers in advanced countries like France, Germany and the UK, or those in emerging markets like Brazil, China and India,” wrote Joseph Fuller, one of the co-authors of the study.
Being willing and eager to embrace the future is a competitive advantage for the United States. It’s something we must take advantage of.
“But while nearly half of U.S. workers surveyed saw the need to prepare for future work requirements, only a third considered themselves capable of preparing,” Fuller added. “The impediments they cited most often were the high cost of training and the loss of wages as they took time to train. Both obstacles suggest a crucial and urgent role for private and public innovation in fostering the latent enthusiasm of U.S. workers to make themselves workforce ready.”
For employers, such innovations include creating cultures of learning in their workplaces.
For policymakers, it’s about working with business leaders so we’re all on the same page, aiming for the same goal.
For instance, tools developed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation like Talent Pipeline Management and the Job Data Exchange will help coordinate and communicate what skills are needed and assist workers in getting appropriate training.
We all feel relentless change around us. However, American workers see this as a challenge and want to take it on.
They are ready to be productive, creative, and innovative no matter what the future throws at them.
