All articles tagged with #white collar workers
A growing number of white-collar workers are voluntarily working on Sundays to better integrate work into their personal lives, challenging traditional boundaries and driven by remote work, digital connectivity, and a desire for flexibility, with some viewing Sunday work as a form of liberation and control over their schedules.
Ford CEO Jim Farley warns that artificial intelligence could displace up to half of all white-collar workers in the US, highlighting concerns about job security amid rapid AI adoption across industries, alongside rising competition from Chinese automakers.
The article discusses concerns that artificial intelligence will primarily displace entry-level white-collar workers, with recent layoffs at Microsoft and Amazon fueling fears that AI could significantly reduce jobs in these sectors within the next few years.
Stellantis, the automaker, has announced the firing of hundreds of white collar workers, including engineers, during a virtual meeting, citing the need to align resources for their EV product offensive and strategic plan. However, some fired workers believe the company is outsourcing positions to low-cost countries for efficiency and profitability. This move reflects the challenges faced by the automotive industry, including the costs of electrification and new technology, with other Detroit automakers also making similar layoffs.
The Biden administration is set to propose a new rule that would expand overtime pay eligibility to an additional 3.6 million U.S. workers, requiring employers to pay overtime to white collar workers making less than $55,000 per year. The rule also suggests automatic annual increases to the salary threshold. Labor advocates have long pushed for stronger overtime protections, which have eroded over the years due to wage stagnation and inflation. The proposed rule could face opposition from business groups, but falls short of demands for a higher salary threshold. If implemented, the rule would impact industries such as retail, food, hospitality, manufacturing, and more.
AI is expected to negatively impact mid-career, mid-ability white-collar workers the most, as it benefits the least experienced workers and could disproportionately impact the middle class of white-collar workers. The skills developed through advanced degrees or years of experience in a specific role or company might soon be embedded into a generative AI tool, lowering the bar to entry. This could lead to a similar, accelerated process of replacement across many more white-collar industries, before getting to the potential for workers to be replaced entirely by AI.
CEO Johnny Taylor Jr. outsourced an employee's tech role to India after she requested to work remotely, saving around 40% in labor costs. This highlights a potential risk for workers who ask to work remotely on a permanent basis, as companies may outsource their job instead. Some tech companies have already turned to overseas labor, which could hurt white-collar workers in the US who have been hit by layoffs this past year. However, only positions that can be completed entirely remotely are at risk, and the number of remote positions offered in the US has been steadily declining.
A study by OpenAI and the University of Pennsylvania found that up to 80% of the US labor force could see at least 10% of their work tasks affected by AI language models like ChatGPT, with educated, white-collar workers making up to $80,000 a year being the most affected. Jobs in the information processing industries, like IT, are most exposed to generative AI, while jobs in manufacturing, agriculture, and mining are the least exposed. The study also found that workers with bachelor's, master's, and other professional degrees are at high risk of exposure to AI.