Over the last 40 years computerization hollowed out skilled production and office work that followed codified rules, pushing workers who would have done that work into low-paid services (food service, cleaning, security, home health aides) that are socially valuable but require little training and therefore won't pay well—the threat of automation is not running out of work but making valuable skills abundant.

causalpending

Speaker

David Autor

Evidence Quote

a lot of the people who would have been doing office work and manufacturing work 40 years ago now find themselves doing services

Source

A Threat Bigger than China | MIT Economist David AutorReid Hoffman
Created: 6/18/2026, 2:32:24 PM

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