Where in America is automation going to take jobs first?

Economists expect that millions of American jobs are going to be replaced by automation in the coming decades. But where will those job losses take place? Which areas will be hardest hit?

Much of the focus regarding automation has been on the Rust Belt. There, many workers have been replaced by machines, and the number of factory jobs has slipped as more production is offshored. While a lot of the rhetoric about job loss in the Rust Belt has centered on such outsourcing, one study from Ball State University found that only 13 percent of manufacturing job losses are attributable to trade, and the rest to automation.

Source: Automation and Jobs – The Atlantic

It’s not manufacturing that’s predicted to lose the most jobs. As educators, we need to be aware of the oncoming onslaught of robots, and think about how we can best prepare are students for their future.