Women projected to see bigger tech-driven job losses than men
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Technology will eliminate scores of jobs over the next decade — and two-thirds of those losses will hit jobs currently held by women without college degrees, finds a new report shared first with Axios.
Why it matters: The analysis from left-of-center think tank Third Way paints what it calls a "bleak" future for women without college degrees, i.e., the majority of women in the U.S.
- Just 39% of women age 25 and up have a bachelor's degree, per the Census.
- "Opportunity is really shrinking for women without a degree," said Curran McSwigan, a senior economic policy adviser at Third Way who conducted the analysis.
By the numbers: The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects which industries are set to shed the most jobs over the next decade — 97% of those jobs are roles that don't require a bachelor's degree.
- Two-thirds of those jobs are held by women, according to Third Way's analysis, which overlaid the BLS projections with the department's data on gender and occupation.
Zoom in: Third Way calls the jobs going away "middle-wage" occupations — roles that pay between two-thirds and three times the median wage, and allow women to "provide for themselves and their families." Think office clerks, bookkeepers, and administrative assistants.
- Meanwhile: The occupations that are likely to grow for non-college workers are low-wage positions that pay less than $37,000 a year, like home health aids.
- Those who have college degrees will capture much of the growth in high-wage work.
Zoom out: For years, a lot of the conversation about the decline in middle-class jobs had to do with men and manufacturing work. The potential women-dominated job losses are an area that's gotten less attention.
- These are just projections, however. McSwigan pointed to two policy solutions to make the future a bit brighter: Improve the quality of the lower-wage jobs that women might take, and create more paths into male-dominated sectors of the economy that are doing well.
The big picture: The U.S. economy is projected to see overall job growth in the coming decade, per the BLS. But that growth will be slower than in the previous one — because of the aging of the American workforce.
- Technology will drive much of the job growth — and job loss.
- For example, the shift to online shopping could lead to a loss of 348,000 cashier jobs, according to the BLS — more than any other occupation in the country.
- However, computer and math occupations are projected to see 15% growth in the coming decade — women currently hold 27% of the jobs in that space.
- The information security analyst occupation, where women make up only 18% of current roles, is projected to grow 32%.
