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AI adoption linked to 13% decline in jobs for young U.S. workers: study

(www.cnbc.com)
440 points pseudolus | 2 comments | 28 Aug 25 14:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.437s | source
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muldvarp ◴[28 Aug 25 14:37 UTC] No.45052736[source]▶
Brutal that software engineering went from one of the least automatable jobs to a job that is universally agreed to be "most exposed to automation".

Was good while it lasted though.

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AndrewKemendo ◴[28 Aug 25 14:44 UTC] No.45052830[source]▶
Too bad engineers were “too important” to unionize because their/our labor is “too special .”

I think you could find 10,000 quotes from HN alone why SDEs were immune to labor market struggles that would need a union

Oh well, good luck everyone.

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orochimaaru ◴[28 Aug 25 14:50 UTC] No.45052908[source]▶
Unions won’t solve this for you. If a company just decides they have enough automation to reduce union workforce it can happen the next time contracts get negotiated.

Either way, there are layoff provisions with union agreements.

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jszymborski ◴[28 Aug 25 14:57 UTC] No.45053015[source]▶
Tell that to dock workers, who have successfully delayed the automation of ports to the extent we see them automated in e.g. the PRC [0].

Hell, they're even (successfully) pushing back against automated gates! [1]

[0] https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/02/business/dock-workers-strike-...

[1] https://www.npr.org/2024/10/03/nx-s1-5135597/striking-dockwo...

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1. MangoCoffee ◴[28 Aug 25 15:05 UTC] No.45053114[source]▶
Isn't that just delaying the inevitable? Yangshan Deep-Water Port in Shanghai is one of the most automated ports. Considering there are more people in China than in the US, China still automated their port.
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2. jszymborski ◴[28 Aug 25 15:40 UTC] No.45053582[source]▶
I'm not making a value judgment on the specific case of dock workers, I'm rather saying that unions can and do prevent automation. If Software Devs had unionized earlier, a lot of positions would probably still be around.