Technology disruptions not all doom and gloom

Experts look at challenges, solutions as work changes

DALLAS — Business leaders and experts from around the country gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas last week to talk about the rapid, relentless and widespread disruption of the economy enabled by fast-moving technological advances.

If that sounds far out, the speakers were there to assure anyone with a job or who may ever need a job that it’s not. Here are five takeaways:

1. Schools must change the way they teach.

El Paso Community College created a transportation center that can help retrain truck drivers whose jobs are expected to be displaced by autonomous trucks by teaching them skills like diesel tech or logistics, accord- ing to William Serrata, the school’s president.

Paul Quinn College in Dallas describes itself as an “urban work college,” its President Michael Sorrell said. It requires students to work a few days a week and attend classes other days. The jobs give students the chance to graduate with a work transcript and connections that create a pipeline to employment. It plans to launch a program for alumni that allows them to return to college and learn new skills if their jobs are displaced by technology. 2. Training and reskilling programs aren’t keeping pace with technology change.

“While training efforts are being beefed up at very rapid levels, they probably aren’t being beefed up fast enough to keep up with disruption,” said Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan. He said programs must also grapple with the cultural and emotional obstacles of midcareerworkers who may be hesitant to return to the classroom.

Jan Rivkin, a professor at Harvard Business School, said he’d like to see the private sector offer solutions. He said he’s worried by how quickly technology is causing companies to shed jobs and how slowly workers are getting retrained. He said he spoke to a well-known venture capitalist who wanted to invest in companies retraining people but couldn’t find any.

3. The workforce of the future will look different.

Telecom giant AT&T has about 250,000 fulltime employees in the U.S. but that number will fall in the years ahead, chief financial officer John Stephens said.

Some jobs will disappear and others will require new skills, such as data science and software proficiency instead of ability to lay cables. That’s why the company has a massive reskilling program that encourages the legacy telecom’s employees to take college classes and get “nanodegrees.”

4. Disruption by technology may be accelerating, in part, because of changing demographics.

With a low birth rate and aging baby boomers, companies see technology as a way to drive down costs and drive up profit.

5. It’s not all doom and gloom, though. All this automation makes being human more important than ever.

Sam Schulhofer-Wohl, a senior economist with the Chicago Fed, argued that as economists and policymakers talk about the labor market implications of automation and technology, they mustn’t lose sight of a fundamental truth about people and their work. For many, he said, jobs are sources of meaning and happiness.

Dreamstime The workplace is quickly evolving as technology advances at a rapid pace.