Millennials grew up using technology, but a new report says that it may push them out of their job.
A Gallup study said that 37 percent of millennials are at “high risk” of being replaced by either artificial intelligence (AI) or automation. The news is slightly better at 32 percent for Generation X and Baby Boomers.
The five percent divergence rate is because millennials lack work experience, where older generations are more likely to hold higher-ranking positions. The study said that only half of millennials “strongly agreed” they planned to stick with their current company for one year.
Unlike past automation that affected manufacturing, entertainment, retail, and food service, AI has increased with technology, and is not isolated to self-checkout kiosks; it threatens higher level jobs as well.
“The jobs at risk of being replaced by AI are not just the entry-level jobs that people typically assume, but rather the repetitive white collar jobs such as in accounting and financial services. This gives AI advancements more time to disrupt or replace Millennials in the workforce,” President of the The Center for Generational Kinetics Jason Dorsey told Forbes. “The result is that Millennials more than any other generation in today’s workforce are at direct risk of having their careers forever altered by AI.”
This revolution will not happen overnight, according to a McKinsey Global Institute report.
“This is going to take decades,” McKinsey Global Institute Director James Manyik wrote. “How automation affects employment will not be decided simply by what is technically feasible, which is what technologists tend to focus on.”
Their scenario suggests that half of today’s work could be automated by 2055, give or take 20 years depending on technology, cost, the labor market, regulations, and social attitudes.
The study cites that while only five percent of current jobs can be fully automated, three-fifths of occupations have 30 percent of activities that can be automated. So it’s more likely to be working alongside a robot than be kicked out by one, at least for now.
After all, it is fitting that robot coworkers assist the generation who created Facebook.
