According to Mike Rowe, the continuous AI boom is already making millions and billionaires in the tech sector, but it’s also generating some anxiety in American lawmakers’ offices and corporation boardrooms.
The host of Dirty jobs, who spoke at Carnegie Mellon University’s inaugural Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, explained a “pinch point” that is developing in the economy as white-collar people begin to lose their employment and the demand for blue-collar work increases without a corresponding supply.
For fifteen years, we have been urging children to learn to code. “Well,” Rowe continued, “AI is coming for the coders. The welders are not going to be affected. This isn’t for the plumbers. Neither the HVAC nor the pipefitters or steamfitters will be affected. It’s not coming for the electricians.”
“There is a definite and present freakout occurring right now. I’ve heard from six governors in the last six months. I’ve heard from the leaders of significant corporations.”
Learn why experts are becoming more concerned about the U.S. labor market’s structure and how to adjust to the automation trend.
Changing trends in the labor market
Rowe is not alone in raising concerns about the changing nature of the work economy. Due to increased automation, the CEOs of a number of megacorporations, including Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Ford Motor, have predicted that white-collar jobs will be significantly reduced.
In an interview with Axios, Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, issued a warning: within five years, over half of all entry-level white-collar jobs may vanish, and the unemployment rate in the nation may rise to 20%.
But Rowe thinks that these new technologies might also lead to the creation of new employment, particularly in specialized trades.
Rowe stated that “these data centers have to be built” and projected that the energy industry will require “hundreds of thousands of jobs.” “The AI race is on; it’s the modern-day Manhattan Project, and the bottleneck is a motivated, competent workforce.
The future of America’s labor force is undoubtedly more blue than white, but attending trade school is not the only option to adapt to this transformation.
How to adjust to automation
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 confirms many of the predictions made by industry executives.
According to the analysis, by 2030, almost 92 million jobs worldwide might be replaced, with bank tellers and data entry clerks being among the most vulnerable to automation. However, 170 million additional employment are predicted to develop throughout the same time span.
By 2030, skilled trade professions such as chefs and cooks, renewable energy experts, and security management professionals might be among the market’s fastest increasing. However, the list also contains several white collar positions such as big data specialists, robotics engineers, and fintech engineers.
Simply said, attending trade school is a fantastic method to prepare for this automation tsunami, but it is not the only choice. If you can learn specific skills in fields like renewable energy or information security, you may be able to extend your career while simultaneously increasing your earning potential.
