Job loss and AI-exposed jobs: Q&A with sociology professor

Jennie Brand, a UCLA professor of sociology specializing in the socioeconomic impacts of job loss, is part of a research team examining how artificial intelligence is reshaping the job market. Their latest paper, "Trapped in declining occupations: Barriers to worker mobility in a changing economy," published in Science Advances, reveals that workers in declining occupations face challenges in moving up the career ladder.

This phenomenon, termed a "mobility trap," poses a significant risk for those employed in AI-exposed jobs. An occupation is considered AI-exposed if tasks could be performed more efficiently with AI using large language models and related software. However, having an AI-exposed job does not guarantee the necessary skills or support to work effectively with AI.

Brand and her colleagues have identified several occupations with high AI exposure but limited evidence of AI-related skills, such as payroll clerks, insurance claims clerks, bookkeeping clerks, medical transcriptionists, data-entry workers, and interpreters and translators. They caution that workers in these occupations, who are also projected to decline in number, are particularly vulnerable due to limited access to better job alternatives and the pressure on their current jobs.

The researchers emphasize that the combination of AI exposure, declining demand, and limited access to better opportunities creates a precarious situation for these workers, potentially leading to a stagnant career trajectory despite frequent job changes.