Why women could be hurt more by AI in the workforce than men: study

Published

2 years ago

July 27, 2023

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When artificial intelligence begins automating jobs once done by humans, women will have to worry more than men, according to a new study by McKinsey & Co.

The report, which was compiled by the consulting firm’s research arm, McKinsey Global Institute, analyzed US labor-market trends through 2030, and found that women are 1.5 times more likely to need to change jobs in the next seven years.

McKinsey attributed the figure to the high amount of women in industries with lower-wage jobs, which will be most affected by AI technology already present in models that are available for public use like ChatGPT, Google’s Bard AI and DALL-E, which generates images.

“Women are heavily represented in office support and customer service, which could shrink by about 3.7 million and 2.0 million jobs, respectively, by 2030,” the report states.

Blacks and Hispanics will also be adversely affected as these workers are “highly concentrated in some shrinking occupations within customer service, food services and production work.”

In all, at least 12 million workers in US could be displaced by technology and switching jobs come 2030, McKinsey said.

The analysis also showed that among low-wage industries, 1.1 million jobs could be entirely swiped from the workforce.

Workers across these in-jeopardy jobs are up to 14 times more likely to need to change occupations than their higher-paid counterparts employed in the transportation, construction and healthcare industries.

For employees want to find a new job with a better salary, “most will need additional skills to do so successfully,” the report noted.

However, not all white-collar positions will be unscathed by the incoming wave of AI in the workforce.

Lawyers are among the high-paid workers who will see “the biggest impact of generative AI” since models “can search through case law, … freeing lawyers to think through how to apply them in new legal arguments.”

AI-backed tools like the ones developed by Sam Altman’s artificial intelligence company OpenAI will also be able to use the tech to edit documents, the form noted, which is usually what lawyers “spend a great deal of time” doing.

Civil engineers’ jobs may also be on the chopping block, as generative AI will “accelerate the design process, taking all building codes into account for fewer errors and less rework.”

McKinsey notes that a streamlined process in planning, designing and executing infrastructure — tasks civil engineers are trained to do — “is vital at a time when the nation needs to deliver more affordable housing and major infrastructure projects.”

However, “physical work is not going away,” the report added, noting that better-paying jobs could grow immensely, by as much as 3.8 million jobs.

Overall, it “probably wont be that kind of catastrophic thing,” McKinsey Global Institute partner Michael Chui told Bloomberg of the impending wave of AI-powered automation in the workforce.

But, it’s still “going to change almost every job,” he added.

If handled correctly, McKinsey said that the US workforce could see a significant increase in productivity and property.

The study reports that in the best-case scenario, productivity could increase from 1%, where it is now, to up to 4%.

It also attributed the shift to net-zero emissions to a decline in the workforce, as it’s already begun shifting employment away from oil, gas and automotive manufacturing.

Some 3.5 million positions could be wiped out by the transition to greener emissions by 2030.

Those jobs will be replaced by positions in green industries, which will see “a modest gain in employment” to the tune of 700,000 additional jobs, according to the report.

“We also see increased demand for healthcare workers as the population ages, plus gains in transportation services due to e-commerce,” McKinsey said.

Politics

DeepSeek — a wake-up call for responsible innovation and risk management

Published

1 hour ago

February 6, 2025

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DeepSeek — a wake-up call for responsible innovation and risk management

DeepSeek R1’s rise shows AI’s promise and peril — cost-effective yet risky. Privacy, bias and security flaws demand responsible AI now.

US

Israel leans hard into Trump plan for Gaza – but has anyone asked its people?

Published

1 hour ago

February 6, 2025

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Israel leans hard into Trump plan for Gaza - but has anyone asked its people?

Donald Trump is not a man in the habit of backing down.

His astonishing proposal to “own” Gaza and relocate two million Palestinians has faced unanimous opposition from America’s allies, but the president now has a plan and woe betide anyone who gets in the way. And that includes international law.

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of the fighting,” he wrote on Truth Social.

Trump latest: Netanyahu backs ‘remarkable’ Gaza idea

Nevermind that Gaza is not Israel’s land to turn over.

“The Palestinians… would have already been settled in safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region.”

Nevermind that most countries in the region have angrily opposed this suggestion.

Aware, perhaps, that the prospect of US troops being sent to Gaza, possibly for decades, would meet opposition in Congress, Trump added “no soldiers by the US would be needed!”

Well that clears one question up. But who would be responsible for security in Gaza then?

Local police officers who are affiliated to Hamas? Private security contractors made of former American soldiers, operating under rules of engagement set by who?

While most of the world is recoiling at all this, in Israel they are leaning into it. Hard.

The defence minister, Israel Katz, has ordered the IDF to prepare plans to allow Gazans to leave by land, sea or air. This is being framed as voluntary migration, giving Gazans the freedom to leave for a better life elsewhere.

Some might. But what if most don’t. Then what?

Voluntary migration sounds nice and all, but how voluntary would it be, really?

Palestinians, human rights organisations and others argue that after 15 and a half months of constant bombardment, Israel has left Gaza uninhabitable and so any departure would be down the barrel of guns that have been pointing at them for almost a year and a half.

Faced with all this, Trump, Netanyahu and their ministers continue to insist that only they know what’s best for Gazans.

Has anyone actually asked the people of Gaza?

Environment

Tesla sales crash in another market and this time, it can’t blame Model Y

Published

1 hour ago

February 6, 2025

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Tesla sales crash in another market and this time, it can't blame Model Y

Australia is the latest market to report a significant drop in Tesla sales for the first month of 2025, and in this case, the automaker can’t blame the Model Y changeover.

Earlier this week, we reported on European markets releasing car sales data for January, showing a massive drop in Tesla sales.

Tesla sold roughly half as many cars in Europe in January 2025 compared to January 2024.

Most industry watchers agree that there are two main reasons behind the sharp decline:

Elon Musk’s meddling in politics and spreading misinformation on social media is driving people away from Tesla
Tesla is transitioning Model Y production to the new design, which is affecting production and sales

Now, Australia is reporting its car sale numbers for January 2025, and it shows that Tesla is also having issues in this market.

In the first month of 2025, Tesla delivered only 739 vehicles – down 33% year-over-year.

This time, Tesla can’t blame the Model Y changeover as Model Y deliveries were actually up 20%.

Model 3 is the problem. Sales of Tesla’s cheapest model were down 63%.

This has been Tesla’s trend in Australia for the last year. In January 2023, Tesla delivered more than 2,000 vehicles in the country, but now it can only deliver a few hundred units. In 2024, Tesla’s sales dropped 17% for the whole year.

Electrek’s Take

At this point, it’s fairly clear that Tesla’s sales will be abysmal in Q1. Tesla will use the excuse of the Model Y changeover, and it will undoubtedly be partly true, but I think the Elon effect is also be a significant part of Tesla’s sales problem.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to calculate, but in the case of Australia, we can see that it’s part of the problem with the model breakdown.

Australia is not a huge car market and it won’t have a major impact on Tesla, but the trend appears to be similar in most markets.

The US is the biggest wildcard, as Elon still has a lot of fans there, obviously. US data is a bit more opaque and it will take a while for us to see an impact, if any.

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