Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to have a profound impact on the American workforce, but some cities could be affected more than others — and one of those cities could be Louisville.
According to a report recently released by the Chamber of Commerce, a business research company, Louisville is the third most likely to be impacted by the loss of jobs due to increased implementation of AI technology.
The report stated that out of the more than 643,000 employed in the city, 96,420 of those jobs were at risk, or about 15%. That percentage was only higher in Las Vegas (15.8%) and Miami (15.01%).
Other regional cities on the list were: Nashville, Tennessee (10th, 14%); Memphis, Tennessee (13th, 13.75%), Indianapolis (15th, 13.32%); Columbus, Ohio (18th, 13.15%); and Cincinnati (25th, 12.79%).
The estimates were reached by analyzing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and comparing the 10 most at-risk professions according to the World Economic Forum’s “The Future of Jobs Report 2023,” which came out in May after the organization surveyed more than 800 companies, which employ a collective 11.3 million workers in a total of 45 countries.
Among the professions that the WEF listed as projected as being in decline from 2023-27 were bank tellers, cashiers, accounting/payroll clerks, data entry clerks, home appliance installers and executive/administrative assistants. NOTE: The WEF predicts that 83 million jobs could be automated worldwide by 2027.
The jobs that were thought to have the most growth according to the WEF report were AI and machine learning specialists, sustainability specialists, business intelligence analysts, information security analysts and fintech engineers.
The narrative of AI-powered automation cutting away at jobs in Louisville is not a new one.
This topic of conversation was what fueled Microsoft’s (Nasdaq: MSFT) investment in 2019 into the multi-year Future of Work Initiative, to turn the city into a hub for AI, Internet of Things (IoT) and data science — a partnership that came to a close last February at the Future of Work Summit.
At the summit, Alisia McClain, the executive director of the Future of Work Initiative, said that the event marked a milestone for the city continuing to prepare itself for the future, not the end of a chapter.
“Think of it as we just built the first iPhone. Now, how’s that going to turn to the iPad and the Apple Watch? What’s the next iteration look like?,” McClain told me then.
Back when I spoke with Tim Spence — the CEO of Fifth Third Bank (Nasdaq: FITB), which as the third largest market share in the Louisville metro area — he called AI “a very useful tool” that had the ability to help employees be more effective and efficient at their jobs. Furthermore, he said it was necessary for the country to boost its collective productivity given its overall future job outlook.
“I think some of the debate that has gone on in the public domain is more academic than it needs to be,” Spence said. “More people will retire every year for the next decade-plus, then will graduate from high school or college in the U.S. in the same year, and the byproduct of that is, if you want the economy to stay the same size or grow, and your number of workers declines, we need these tools, in order to be able to do more.”
