The report, “Unprepared and Unaware: Upskilling the Workforce for a Decade of Uncertainty” found that the number of middle-skilled jobs will increase but many low-skilled workers, who make up almost 40 percent of U.S. adults, could face unemployment.
According to the report, by 2030, as many as 26 percent of today’s jobs for workers with a high school diploma or less could be lost.
“A lot of people are worried about robots and artificial intelligence taking their jobs,” said SREB president Dr. Stephen L. Pruitt. “It’s actually going to drive the need for greater stability in terms of knowledge and skill higher because it’s not that they’re going to eliminate jobs and all those people are just out of work. There are going to be jobs because someone’s still got to take care of the AI or automation. But what it does is kick up the skill level a notch.”
Dr. Stephen L. Pruitt
Middle and low-skilled jobs are based on educational attainment. Low-skilled jobs require a high school diploma or less while middle-skilled jobs require more than a high school degree but less than a bachelor’s degree.
According to Pruitt, students who are in families whose parents have low-skilled jobs are 10 times more likely to have those same jobs.
