AI has disrupted entry-level white-collar employment, but blue-collar workers are still looking for clues on how the tech will shape the essential economy going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ford CEO Jim Farley said it\u2019s too early to know just how AI may help or hurt essential workers<\/a>\u2014those working in sectors like manufacturing, skilled trades, and infrastructure.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that it will be a help, but it\u2019s hard to say that today,\u201d he said on Bloomberg TV\u2019s Wall Street Week on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n AI investments in data center construction and transmission lines will bring \u201ctailwinds\u201d for the essential economy since the buildout will require support from construction workers, plumbers, electricians, and other blue-collar workers, Farley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n A recent report<\/a> from the ALFA Institute found that $100 billion in AI data center investment could create up to half a million jobs in the U.S. over five years, spanning construction, manufacturing, transportation, and real estate. <\/p>\n But on the other hand, Farley said there isn\u2019t a good track record of applying new technologies to make blue-collar workers more productive and pointed to automation as an example.<\/p>\n \u201cThose innovations really took jobs out of the job market and out and out of the essential economy,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In fact, productivity in the essential economy has gone down over the past 20 years, while white-collar productivity has gone up, according to Farley.<\/p>\n A St. Louis Fed study<\/a> found that about 4% of blue-collar workers\u2019 hours in a week were spent using AI, which saved them 1% of their work. But for computer and math workers, 11.7% of their hours were spent using AI, saving them 2.5% of their work. For management, 9.7% of their hours worked using AI saved them 2.2%.<\/p>\n And even as data centers may provide a boost in blue-collar work, Farley has previously said<\/a> there\u2019s a death of workers able to construct AI data centers and operate factories. On Friday, he told Bloomberg that gap is about 1 million workers.<\/p>\n \u201cThe irony of the irony is, we have all these data centers, all this new technology to roll out, and still requires electricians, construction workers\u2026 and we have this huge shortage,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n