Major companies such as Mitsubishi Electric and Panasonic Holdings are cutting back on their workforce significantly.
One of the root causes of the restructuring is believed to be that advances in artificial intelligence have fundamentally changed the way people work.
Kazuhiko Toyama, chairman of Industrial Transformation Platform Japan Co., Ltd., warns of the “extinction of white collars”.
According to Mr. Toyama, the people who will survive the AI era are broadly divided into two groups. One is a competent manager who can make global judgments and accurate decisions by making full use of AI. and blue-collar workers with effective interpersonal skills.
In an interview with the Asahi Shimbun, Mr. Toyama also said that the age of AI is a great opportunity to think about the nature of the work that humans must do.
Excerpts from the interview follow:
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question: Do you think white-collar jobs will disappear with the spread of AI?
Toyama: In the short term, programmers and other white-collar IT workers will be replaced by AI at the fastest pace.
After that, there will be rule-based personnel who will be engaged in back office operations (sales support and management) such as general affairs and marketing departments.
Even accountants and lawyers cannot compete with AI when it comes to searching and analyzing secondary information to find legal precedents and theories.
Furthermore, middle managers, who make up the majority of corporate employees, will be exposed to competition from AI and will be placed in an extremely difficult position.
question: What kind of workers will survive in the age of AI?
answer: There are two main types of bosses: “capable bosses” who make full use of AI as “super subordinates” and encourage AI to make judgments and make appropriate decisions from a global perspective. and blue-collar workers who use their bodies, emotions, and skills to obtain “first-hand information.”
This includes sales jobs that involve a high level of emotional labor, where you work directly with customers and pay close attention to win their hearts, and management consultants who require counseling skills.
blue collar millionaire
question: In the United States, more and more college graduates are choosing blue-collar careers, and “blue-collar millionaires” who earn high incomes are attracting much attention. Do you think Japan will follow the same path?
answer: That’s definitely the case.
In fact, the labor shortage is even more serious in Japan than in the United States, so it is inevitable that wages for field workers will rise further due to the balance between supply and demand.
Currently, highly skilled heavy equipment operators and high-ranking construction workers already earn more than 10 million yen ($63,000) a year.
Wages for workers in tourism and other industries are also rising, and a new “middle class” will be formed by qualified workers in essential industries and workers with special qualifications and skills for jobs between white-collar and blue-collar jobs.
question: Does this mean that the white-collar middle class, which has made up the largest layer of society, is collapsing?
answer: After all, the social model centered on the concept of “white-collar workers who constitute the middle class” was only a temporary creation during the information and communications revolution of the late 20th century.
During the period of high economic growth in the Showa era, Japan’s wealthy middle class was made up of blue-collar workers working at factories of Toyota Motor Corporation and Matsushita Electric Industrial (now Panasonic).
And now, with the AI revolution, unproductive white-collar jobs known as “bullshit jobs” will be performed by AI, while wealth will flow into high-value human services and labor-intensive industries.
It can be said to be an example of historical necessity.
question: There are growing concerns among middle-aged and elderly managers. Do you have any specific advice for them?
answer: You should swallow your pride and try working on the front lines.
For example, obtaining a heavy equipment driving license and working as a large bus or taxi driver is a strong option. Their annual income is also high.
Some data shows that drivers and other workers in their 60s actually have the fewest accidents and are more productive.
question: I think many people are confused about the transition from desk work.
answer: For example, if your situation allows, you could try starting a side job in logistics or other front-line work on the weekends.
There are an increasing number of cases in which people are recognized for their suitability and are offered high wages.
Rather than working in an office as a cog in a large company, doing seemingly boring tasks, I find it much more rewarding to work directly with customers, help them, and receive words of gratitude.
The AI era is a great opportunity to think about the nature of the work that humans must do.
Reports, universities and changes in recruitment
question: How do you think AI will change the work of journalists?
answer: There will always be a need for reporters to roam the streets and record scoops (breaking news).
This is because AI can instantly analyze past reports and data, but it cannot obtain new raw information.
Meanwhile, news desk tasks such as article composition and editing and administrative tasks will eventually be performed by AI. The same goes for consultants.
I would encourage reporters to get back to running the pavement and getting scoops.
question: Do you think Japan’s current university education system will function as the social structure undergoes major changes?
answer: Faculties that teach practical science, such as the Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, and Faculty of Pharmacy, are functioning, but other faculties are barely functioning.
In particular, the number of private liberal arts departments, which have increased in number over the past 20 years, has turned into a “mass production system for unnecessary salaried workers.”
Half of Japan’s universities should stop playing the game of teaching high-level academics and shift toward offering skills training programs like those in Europe.
Essentially, there is no correct answer in liberal arts, which shows a better way of life.
It can only be gained when you experience extreme interpersonal relationships at work, face dilemmas, face different views on life and death in nursing care, and find yourself in difficult situations.
These are not things that can be easily learned by studying (Immanuel) Kant or (William) Shakespeare in a university classroom.
question: Do you think companies will change their recruitment strategies?
answer: The seniority-based lifetime employment system, in which obedient new graduates are mass-hired upon graduation and cared for for the rest of their lives, will completely collapse.
Companies cannot afford to take care of students who lack the skills and independence.
From now on, students will need to be realistic in thinking that for the first three to four years they will only receive a salary and undergo vocational training, and once they have acquired skills that cannot be replaced by AI, they will launch a startup or carve out their own career path.
