ASSESSING THE REAL IMPACT OF AUTOMATION ON JOBS

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

MIT economist David Autor found that automation exposure doesn't equal job loss by tracking task changes from 1977 to 2018 - Uber drivers saw 249% employment growth despite wage stagnation while proofreaders earned more but fewer jobs existed. The key insight is expertise fungibility: experts can do nonexpert work when displaced, but automation's impact depends on whether it removes routine tasks while adding abstract ones or strips away what makes a job specialized.