Television host and narrator Mike Rowe believes some important jobs will be able to withstand the encroaching move of artificial intelligence into the job market.
The “How America Works” host and CEO of MikeRoweWorks Foundation spoke about how the new technology is “coming for the coders,” but trade-based jobs will not suffer the AI disruption.
‘We’ve been telling kids for 15 years to code. ‘Learn to code,’ we said,” Rowe said at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit on Tuesday. “Yeah, well, AI is coming for the coders.”
However, the technology is not “coming for the welders… the plumbers, the steamfitters or the pipefitters… the electricians.”
“I sat and listened to Larry Fink say we need 500,000 electricians in the next couple of years—not hyperbole,” Rowe said, referring to a recent event he had attended.
He cited an example of the types of calls his foundation receives in search of job candidates. One such example was the BlueForge Alliance, which Rowe explained “oversees our maritime industrial base—that’s 15,000 individual companies who are collectively charged with building and delivering three nuclear-powered subs to the Navy … calls and says, we’re having a hell of a time finding tradespeople. Can you help?”
“I said, I don’t know, man … how many do you need? He says, 140,000,” Rowe continued. “Our submarines matter, and these guys have a pinch point because they can’t find welders and electricians to get them built.”
Rowe continued to share the staggering numbers, noting that the “automotive industry needs 80,000 collision repair and technicians.”
“Energy, I don’t even know what the number is. I hear 300, I hear 500,000,” he said.
“Not to filibuster, but that’s the underlying thing that I just really hope people take from this conference,” he told the audience. “There is a clear and present freakout going on right now. I’ve heard from six governors in the last six months. I’ve heard from the heads of major companies.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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