Study projects The effects of automation on workers in different areas, professions: NPR
Automation is already here. Robots helped build your car and pack your latest online shopping order. A chatbot can help you figure out your credit card balance. A computer program can scan and process your resume when you apply for a job.
What will work in America look like a decade for now? A team of economists at the McKinsey Global Institute set out to find out in a new report on Thursday.

The research finds that automation expands the gap between urban and rural areas and dramatically affects people who did not attend college or college. did not complete high school. It also designs some professions ready for massive growth, or grows enough to compensate for displaced jobs.
Below are some of the key features of McKinsey's forecast.
Most jobs will change; Some will fall.
"Intelligent machines will be more widespread in all businesses. All our jobs will change," said Susan Lund, co-author of the report. Almost 40% of American jobs are in professions that are likely to shrink – but not necessarily disappear – by 2030, the researchers found.
With nearly 21 million Americans, office support is by far the most common US occupation most likely to lose jobs for digital services, according to McKinsey. Food service is another heavily affected category, such as hotels, fast food and other kitchens automating the work of cooks, dishwashers and others.
At the same time, "the economy adds jobs that use new technology," McKinsey wrote economists. These jobs include software developers and information specialists – who are constantly missing – but also solar panel installers and wind turbine engineers.
Healthcare jobs – including hearing aid specialists and home health professionals – will be in great demand for the next decade, as the age of baby boomers. McKinsey also predicts growth for jobs that lose in human creativity or "socioemotional skills" or provide personalized service to the wealthy, such as interior designers, psychologists, massage therapists, dietitians and landscape architects.

In some professions, even if jobs disappear, new losses can be offset. For example, digital assistants can replace the counters and clerks who assist with rentals, but more workers may be needed to assist customers in stores or personnel distribution centers, McKinsey economists wrote.
Similarly, enough new jobs will be created in transportation or customer service and sales to compensate those who lost by 2030.
Employers and communities could do more to match workers in declining fields to other compatible jobs with less risk of automation. For example, 900,000 bookstores, accountants, and auditing clients across the country can see their jobs phased out, but can be retrained to become loan agencies, claim adjustments, or insurance guarantees, said the McKinsey report.
Automation is likely to continue expanding the gap between job growth in urban and rural areas.
By 2030, the majority of job growth could be concentrated in just 25 megacities and their periphery, while large country friends see slower job placement and even losing jobs, the researchers found. This gap has already expanded over the last decade, as the Federal Reserve mayor Jerome Powell noted in his comments on Wednesday.
The 25 megacities (including Chicago, Miami and Austin) and their suburbs (such as Arlington, Va and Riverside, Calif.) Are estimated to account for more than 60% of net job growth, while representing only 44% of the population.
Some other standouts with remarkable job growth are: rapidly growing smaller cities, such as Provo, Utah and Des Moines, Iowa;
Some jobs – for example in transport or food service – may face higher demand in growing and wealthy aging cities, while decreasing in areas of poorer and falling populations.
But the Americans do not move as much as they used to. The part of the Americans who moved to another state went down half between 1990 and 2017, said the McKinsey report. And when people move, they move to an area with a very similar profile, meaning similar job growth and opportunities.

"Assuming people will only move from distressed areas to more thriving cities will involve a reversal of today's status quo," the economists wrote. They propose the government, and companies can do more to revive downturns, such as open offices in more affordable locations, and improve broadband access for more advanced jobs.
Men could face a little more offset than women. Dramatically more vulnerable are people without upper secondary education.
About two-thirds of workers in the US do not have a college degree, which puts them at greater risk of losing work on new technology. The researchers found that workers who did not attend college or did not complete high school are four times as likely to lose jobs due to automation.
"Automation can extend existing differences in education, income and wealth," the economists wrote.

Spanish works are particularly affected by this and face higher school dropouts. More than a quarter of Spanish-speaking workers are also employed in automated jobs, the report said.
Some jobs that grow and do not require a bachelor's degree include construction managers, lift installers and repairers, cost calculations, MR technologies and radiologists. The report called for a better system for lifelong training and learning for American workers.
Women currently have more jobs in areas that are expected to grow, such as registered nurses and personal care assistants. This is likely to position them better for a more automated future, potentially representing 58% of net job growth by 2030. It is believed that current gender distribution remains the same in all occupations.

Men dominate some of the most automated jobs, such as mechanical repair work and machine operations. At the same time, they also dominate high tech tech jobs. And women represent an oversized portion of the fast-shrinking jobs of office workers and administrative assistants.
"Automation and AI have tremendous potential for increasing innovation and productivity, but these technologies require an adaptive workforce with new sets of skills," author James Manyika said in a statement. "We can make this an opportunity to upgrade jobs, make them more rewarding and raise people."