How much is AI actually affecting the workforce?

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 4 September 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

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Summary

There’s been a lot of big talk about how artificial intelligence is going to replace white collar workers. But what data do we actually have around AI’s impact on the workforce? Today on the show, we speak to an expert who has measured one aspect of these changes. She tells us how this moment in AI compares to the Industrial Revolution.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:02.0	This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darien Woods.
0:14.5	And I'm Waylon Wong.
0:16.0	A couple of months ago, Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, took the stage at an event called the
0:22.0	Aspen Ideas Festival. He was there to talk about the future of the economy and the importance
0:27.2	of skilled trades, and as he sees it, something of a crisis. Hiring an entry worker at a tech
0:34.1	company has fallen 50% since 2019.
0:39.4	Is that really where we want all of our kids to go?
0:43.2	And then Jim Farley kind of just drops in this huge prediction.
0:47.6	Artificial intelligence is going to replace literally half of all white-collar workers in the U.S.
0:53.1	Half of all white-collar workers. That is.S. Half of all white-collar workers.
0:54.8	That is quite a pronouncement from the CEO of a major company.
0:58.8	And Jim Farley's not the only executive talking in these dramatic terms
1:03.5	about how AI might upend the economy as we know it.
1:06.9	Like it could be a 21st century version of the Industrial Revolution.
1:11.3	You mean like a generation's long transformational era of human history
1:15.2	that will change life forever for you and me?
1:17.6	Well, we only have nine minutes.
1:20.0	So today on the show, we will talk to an economist
1:22.1	who's found one small but fascinating way to measure the impact of AI on workers.
1:27.4	That's coming up after the break.
1:29.3	We sum up all of human progress.
	...

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