Office Jobs Becoming Harder to Secure as Gen Z Turns to High-Tech Blue-Collar Professions
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Unrelenting waves of layoffs coupled with fierce competition for office jobs are forcing young people to rethink their career paths. Generation Z is increasingly exploring alternative routes to survive in the harsh global labour market.
The primary reason for the difficulty in securing office jobs is the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), which has triggered massive automation and reduced human workforce numbers. For instance, Amazon has aggressively pursued efficiency drives while announcing the deployment of one million AI-powered worker robots.
However, this phenomenon has given rise to a new trend. Instead of pursuing careers in skyscrapers, traditional manual trades are making a comeback and attracting Gen Z.
This trend is evident in US schools, where interest in classes such as carpentry and welding has surged. However, modern blue-collar professions have transformed into high-tech manufacturing roles.
One example is Middleton High School in the US, which invested a staggering $90 million (£72 million) to modernise its manufacturing lab. Students there no longer use manual saws but operate computer-controlled smart robotic arms.
School curricula are reviving 1990s-2000s subjects like construction, manufacturing, and carpentry. The modern vocational classes have proven effective, attracting 2,300 students in recent years.
The main draw is the lucrative pay. Quincy Millerjohn, a welding instructor, revealed that factory workers can earn $41 to $52 per hour (approximately £33 to £42 per hour).
“There’s a paradigm shift. Manual work is now a high-skill, high-paying profession. It’s very appealing to young people as they can create things with their own hands,” said John Mihm, a government education consultant in Wisconsin.
Mihm added that fear of being replaced by AI in administrative roles is the main catalyst for Gen Z shifting to physical skills that digital algorithms cannot replicate.
Office Job Apocalypse: 15 Professions Set to Disappear
Gen Z’s concerns are not unfounded. Separately, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Future of Work report predicts a drastic shift in the global labour market. Between 2023 and 2027, approximately 83 million jobs are at risk of disappearing due to the AI revolution.
The same research notes that around 23% of workers across sectors will undergo total transformation. The media, entertainment, and sports industries are projected to be the most affected, with 32% of jobs at risk of being lost or transformed. Government, digital communications, finance, and logistics sectors are also not immune to this disruption.
Based on WEF data, the following 15 office and conventional jobs are predicted to vanish soon:
Bank tellers
Postal workers
Cashiers and ticket booth staff
Data entry clerks
Secretaries and administrative staff
Stock-keeping staff
Accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll staff
Legislators and government officials
Statistics, insurance, and finance staff
Door-to-door salespeople, street vendors, and newspaper sellers
Security personnel (Satpam)
Credit and loan managers
Claims investigators and examiners (insurance)
Software testers
Relationship managers