AI can affect 40% of all jobs worldwide
This is the conclusion of a new IMF study. In industrialized countries, where a higher level of digitalization already exists, the figure is as high as 60%. In countries with lower incomes, the figure is still 26%.
This certainly bodes well for the shortage of skilled workers. According to the IMF, around half of the effect of AI is higher productivity. The more productive we become through AI, the more economic output we can achieve with fewer workers. The other half is the takeover of currently "human" tasks by AI. This also reduces the need for skilled workers and thus alleviates the shortage.
And what does that mean for workers? This is a very old and big question. The majority opinion (there's a meta-study by the CEPR, for example) is that transformative technological developments have a positive impact after a transition phase: More productivity means lower costs, lower prices, more consumption, more supply, more jobs, more income. In the industrialization and automation wave from 1960 onwards, this more than compensated for the loss of jobs for workers after a few decades at the latest.
Basically, studies such as the current one by the IMF are always subject to an almost absurd degree of uncertainty. Every labor market works a little differently, what exactly AI means is not always entirely clear and how it will develop is even more difficult to predict. So it's better to take the figures with a pinch of salt - even the IMF itself says so.
Either way, it is a reminder that AI is currently one of the most exciting wild cards in the global fight against the skills shortage. Germany should make sure it doesn't fall behind in the AI race, because there are few countries that can benefit as much from new solutions to the skills shortage as we can.
What's the situation like for you? Do you already feel AI in your work, be it in productivity or personnel planning?
