Study Predicts Net Loss of 7% of White-Collar Jobs by 2025

Study Predicts Net Loss of 7% of White-Collar Jobs by 2025

By: Daniel Steingold | July 08, 2016

A new study published by Forrester Research predicts that seven percent of current U.S. jobs will be lost due to robots, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and automation by 2025— 2025 represents the start of what Forrester calls the “cognitive era.”

Forrester’s report specifically focuses on white-collar positions, which make up 89 million American jobs. It calls for combining technology with human intelligence, and highlights how “companies can adapt to the changing workforce.”

Here are some additional takeaways from Forrester’s study:

  • 16 percent of current U.S. jobs are expected to be replaced, while nine percent will be created by 2025, which will result in the net loss of seven percent of U.S jobs.
  • It is believed that office and administrative support staff jobs will be most affected in the “cubicle” space.
  • The new jobs that will be created by technology are expected to include robot monitoring professionals, data scientists, automation specialists, and content curators.
  • These new jobs are expected to contribute 8.9 million news jobs to the U.S. by 2025
  • A startling “93 percent of automation technologists feel underprepared or only partially prepared to tackle the challenges associated with smart machine technologies.”

Ultimately, this report shows how white-collar workers may be just as affected by automation as blue-collar workers.

Fortunately, however, Forrester believes that cognitive solutions like Google’s AlphaGo and IBM’s Watson can coexist alongside human labor. Technological feats are inevitable; how we work with, rather than against, them is the question.


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