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Tabby Douglas (37) lives in Oklahoma City, USA. His hands, which were doing complex coding in front of a monitor just a few months ago, now hold a welding torch. He was a software (SW) engineer at Summer Sports, which analyzes National Football League (NFL) data and provides artificial intelligence (AI)-based consulting. However, as generative AI rapidly invaded the work area, he lost his job last May. After graduating from college in 2018, he gave up his career as a developer and is now learning welding at Tulsa Tech, a vocational school.
In an interview with Maeil Business Newspaper, Mr. Douglas confessed, “In a situation where AI has replaced coding and management only believes in AI and alienates developers, ‘creative problem solving’ is no longer my job.” The alternative he chose was welding. He said, “Welding is an area that AI cannot yet imitate as it requires understanding and fine-tuning the characteristics of metal,” and added, “More than anything, it gives me a sense of relief that the results of my sweat remain in real life before my eyes.” The rapid development of AI is shaking up the U.S. labor market. This is the so-called job transformation (JX) caused by AI. At the center of JX is the blue-collar industry, which has been considered an object of avoidance for a while. While the tech industry, which was a symbol of white-collar work, is caught up in a restructuring typhoon, blue-collar occupations that are still difficult for AI to penetrate are emerging as a new ‘land of opportunity’ for the 2030 generation.
The JX phenomenon is also spreading as a ‘hip’ culture to the younger generation through social networking services (SNS). A representative example is ‘Lexi the Electrification’, which records millions of views on TikTok. Lexi, a young female electrician, has millions of fans by sharing videos of her daily life wearing a helmet and connecting wires. Occupations that were neglected in the past as ‘greasy rice’ are now being redefined as ‘free, professional, and safe from AI occupations.’
U.S. employment-related statistics also show this phenomenon. This year, job postings for tech companies in the U.S. decreased by about 30% compared to three years ago. The proportion of young generation employees at large technology companies also decreased by half, but during the same period, the number of enrollees in welding, plumbing, HVAC, and automobile maintenance courses at U.S. vocational schools increased by 20% compared to 2020. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of students in U.S. vocational schools is expected to grow 6% per year until 2030.
JX(Job Transformation)
A new term created by the Maeil Business Newspaper to express the phenomenon of a great transformation occurring simultaneously in the job ecosystem following the rapid progress of AI transformation (AX).
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