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Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Financial markets are fixated on economic data this Wednesday for clues on how many rate cuts to expect in 2025. Hiring by private-sector employers rose by just 122,000 in December, according to payroll company ADP. That is the smallest hiring since August. But on the flip side, separate numbers from the Labor Department showed new applications for jobless benefits were the lowest in nearly a year.
Related: Nvidia to Wall Street: Artificial intelligence is just getting started
Sticking with the job market, a new survey is confirming worries about AI and the future of work. According to a World Economic Forum survey, 41 percent of employers say technological advances tied to AI will result in job losses at their companies in the next 5 years.
While a big portion of the job losses are expected to hit professions technology will make redundant such as workers at the post office, executive secretaries, and payroll clerks, some creative jobs are at risk as well. The report specifically mentions graphic designers since AI can already create certain kinds of content involving words and images.
The somber tone in this year’s Future of Jobs Report removes a previous belief AI would have a positive net effect on the job market. Instead, the report says, “The presence of both graphic designers and legal secretaries just outside the top 10 fastest-declining job roles, a first-time prediction not seen in previous editions of the Future of Jobs Report, may illustrate [Generative AI’s] increasing capacity to perform knowledge work.”
But the outlook isn’t all bleak. 77 percent of companies surveyed say they will retrain and re-skill current workers, so workers can use AI to be more efficient.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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