This Great Chart Shows How Middle-Income Jobs Have Been Getting Massacred All Over The Place
The above chart says something really stark. Across a range of countries, middle-income jobs have been getting massacred.
Low paying jobs have grown. And so have high paying ones, over the last several years. But not middle-income ones.
The chart comes from a new paper, being presented at Jackson Hole, by economist David Autor. Autor argues that robots (or computers or automation) have likely hurt middle-skill jobs, but that robots can't and might not ever cause a big problem for high-and-low level jobs that involve more gut feeling (writing a paragraph, straightening up an apartment, etc.). In other words, if your industry job hasn't yet been lost to automation, you might not have as much to worry about as you think.