Will robots take your job? Quarter of US workers at risk

Associated Press

Robots aren't replacing everyone, but a quarter of U.S. jobs will be severely disrupted as artificial intelligence accelerates the automation of existing work, according to a new Brookings Institution report.

Thursday's report from the Washington think tank says roughly 36 million Americans hold jobs with "high exposure" to automation – meaning at least 70 percent of their tasks could soon be performed by machines using current technology. Among those most likely to be affected are cooks, waiters and others in food services; short-haul truck drivers; and clerical office workers.

"That population is going to need to upskill, reskill or change jobs fast," said Mark Muro, a senior fellow at Brookings and lead author of the report.

Muro said the timeline for the changes could be "a few years or it could be two decades." But it's likely that automation will happen more swiftly during the next economic downturn. Businesses are typically eager to implement cost-cutting technology as they lay off workers.

Though the United States is in the middle of its second longest expansion in history, and jobs data suggest that the economy remains healthy, many business leaders and economists have suggested in surveys that the United States could slip into a recession in 2020. In addition, the partial government shutdown has been creating anxieties about a downturn.

Some economic studies have found that similar shifts toward automating production happened in the early part of previous recessions – and may have contributed to the "jobless recovery" that followed the 2008 financial crisis.

But with new advances in artificial intelligence, it's not just industrial and warehouse robots that will alter the American workforce. Self-checkout kiosks and computerized hotel concierges will do their part.

Most jobs will change somewhat as machines take over routine tasks, but a majority of U.S. workers will be able to adapt to that shift without being displaced.

Some chain restaurants have already shifted to self-ordering machines; a handful have experimented with robot-assisted kitchens.