It's estimated that 47.5% of tasks in all occupations in the Wichita region could soon become automated, according to a 2019 study from public policy think thank Brookings that ranked the city No. 15 out of 100 U.S. metros with the most potential risk for automation.
And with the Covid-19 pandemic only accelerating technology's disruption in the workplace, a group of local economic and workforce development partners plan to commission Deloitte US to explore the future of work in Wichita.
The $500,000 initiative is lead by the Greater Wichita Partnership, with additional investments from the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas and the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Next week, the Partnership will ask both the City Council and the Sedgwick County Commission for $150,000 each to help fund the Deloitte study. Both bodies are expected to vote during their meetings next week.
"We've all been touched by automation in a lot of different ways the last 18 months," said Jeff Fluhr, president of the Greater Wichita Partnership. "You're seeing remote work, automation, AI, advanced manufacturing — these are certainly creating, for some, challenges, but in other ways, it's also opportunities for our community, it's how we step into that is going to be really important."
Over a 12-week period, Fluhr said Deloitte will be tasked with creating an actionable roadmap called the "Future of Work & Workforce" with the goal of keeping and growing the region's current jobs, as well as preparing for the jobs of the future.
Deloitte, the audit, consulting, tax and advisory firm, is considered a leader in human capital and talent research, especially related to artificial intelligence and advanced manufacturing.
Deloitte is already establishing a presence in Wichita. Its future Smart Factory on the Wichita State University campus is expected to invite students, companies and other partners to explore Industry 4.0 technology — things like automation and machine learning.
The reality, backers of the project say, is that workforce dynamics are changing more rapidly in the face of Covid-19.
Those in office administration, production, transportation and food preparation are among jobs deemed at higher risk of being automated, the Brookings report says.
The World Economic Forum’s “The Future of Jobs” report from 2018 estimates that by 2025, 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labor between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labor between humans, machines, and algorithms.
Sherri Utash, president of WSU Tech and co-chair of the Partnership's Business and Education Alliance, says the Deloitte study, though, will help remove some of the fear factor often associated with automation.
"We know that this is coming, we know it's happening," she said. "We know that it was exacerbated by the pandemic, and we also know the workforce situations that we're in today across every single industry. Nowhere you go doesn't have a help wanted sign. We also know that remote work is changing the landscape of the way we work and what people want to do. So I think we have to embrace the fact as a community that we've had disruption through technology."
From WSU Tech's perspective, one key piece of the Future of Work & Workforce report, Utash said, will be guidance on how to build curriculum and educational programs for the area's K-16 students so that they are more prepared to enter a changing workforce.
"If we can start building what the future of work looks like, then we might be able to change lives sooner and we might be able to create greater economic prosperity for our community," Utash said.
Bigger picture, Fluhr said the outcomes from the finalized Future of Work & Workforce study will lend a competitive advantage for the Wichita region to leverage significant grant dollars, such as the U.S. Economic Development Administration's Build Back Better grant challenges, and provide guidance on on how to spend the $9.9 million One Workforce Grant that the Workforce Alliance was awarded earlier this year.
"We see this as a moment to really break froward to really position this region and state in a competitive way," Fluhr said.
