Predictions abound about which jobs will be automated by AI—but contrary to popular belief, a tech takeover isn’t in full swing yet. In an end-of-year note to investors, Vanguard set the record straight: careers that research claims are most susceptible to AI are actually thriving, not dying out.
“The approximately 100 occupations most exposed to AI automation are actually outperforming the rest of the labor market in terms of job growth and real wage increases,” the Vanguard report revealed. “This suggests that current AI systems are generally enhancing worker productivity and shifting workers’ tasks toward higher-value activities.”
Instead of displacing employees from their jobs, AI is helping humans perform better at work, leading to some career wins. The job growth rate of occupations with high AI exposure—including office clerks, HR assistants, and data scientists—increased from 1% in pre-COVID-19 years (2015 through 2019) to 1.7% in 2023 and beyond, according to Vanguard’s research. Meanwhile, the growth rate of all other jobs declined from 1.1% to 0.8% over the same period. Workers in AI-prone roles are getting pay bumps, too; the wage growth of jobs with high AI exposure shot up from 0.1% pre-COVID to 3.8% post-pandemic (and post-ChatGPT). For all other jobs, compensation only marginally increased from 0.5% to 0.7%.
