Automation is Coming for American Workers, Says Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg says that robots are coming for your job.

“If you look from 2000 to 2010, for every job that was lost to trade, there were six jobs lost because of automation,” he stated. “The thing we need to realize about automation is it’s all types of industries.”

The Indiana mayor says that automation gets a lot of attention in industries like automotive, but it’s something that will inevitably affect every industry. From self-checkout to filing your taxes online, automated jobs are everywhere and growing fast — but Buttigieg says that doesn’t have to be a bad thing.

“The bottom line is our communities have to be figuring out ways to prepare for it now, rather than deal with it after the fact,” he stated. “Right now, we’ve got a lot of jobs in the country and the biggest issue is finding workers who are prepared to take those jobs, but some of the jobs that we’re asking workers to train for may not even be there five years of seven years from now.”

Buttigieg said that we must a way to use automation in a way that empowers residents, and creates a more robust society, and we need to be figuring that out right now.