MW How AI could drive a renaissance for blue-collar workers

By Hannah Pedone

Humans may need reskilling, but there will be a growing need for jobs that involve repairing and supervising expansive robotic fleets

Robots can do menial tasks, but humans will need to make sure things run in an orderly fashion.

An automation revolution may be coming, but some experts think humans will still play a vital role in that new world order.

Oppenheimer analyst Colin Rusch specifically predicts that artificial intelligence could usher in a "renaissance" for blue-collar jobs. While robots may be able to take over menial tasks, humans will be needed to supervise and repair complex fleets.

"The world still needs the skilled workforce to build and service the machines that build the machines," Rusch said in a Thursday note.

That view is at odds with recent fears of an AI reckoning within the workforce. Investors have rewarded companies for conducting mass layoffs of white-collar workers while doubling down on AI. Certain blue-collar jobs have seemed fairly susceptible to AI disruption as well, with robots already playing a role in things like factory and warehouse automation.

Read more: Why you shouldn't blame AI for the weak jobs data

Rusch said that "justifiable attention" has been paid to the impact AI may have on the white-collar workforce, noting a McKinsey study released last year found that 57% of U.S. work hours could be automated using then-current technology. However, he believes that on the other side of the "rapid rightsizing" of the white-collar workforce could be a "resurgence" in demand for blue-collar workers who do jobs that are not easily replaced by code or automation.

Rusch sees the potential for the workforce to become "increasingly blue-collar," and there will be a great need to both reskill and upskill workers. People will need a deeper understanding of sensors, with lidar serving as an essential tool for analyzing real-world data, he said.

See also: The stock market is reflecting fears of an AI apocalypse for white-collar jobs

Workers will also be needed to remotely monitor autonomous systems and take on "evolving maintenance and repair" functions as robotic fleets expand.

"As we see numerous companies reach commercialization of fully autonomous solutions ... we expect humans to remain in the loop in several ways," Rusch added.

A February paper by MIT economists Daron Acemoglu, David Autor and Simon Johnson found that AI has the potential to be a "force multiplier" for human skills and expertise.

The co-authors wrote that there is a "systematic underinvestment in pro-worker AI," a term for technology that makes human capabilities more valuable. They said that AI can do the "opposite" of what automation does, and "generate demand for novel human expertise" like electrical installation or fiber-optic cabling.

The MIT team added that "while AI's capacity to automate work is substantial, we argue that its potential to serve as a collaborator, by extending human judgment, enabling new tasks and accelerating skill acquisition, is equally transformative and currently underexploited."

Lynn Wu, a professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania who specializes in AI and labor, said in an interview that there will be a "medium-term renaissance" for blue-collar work.

She believes that "high-skilled work" that requires the "motion and dexterity of our hands" is still essential for the likes of construction workers, electricians and child-care workers.

In line with that, experts project that a future where autonomous robots take over blue-collar tasks is still years away, given testing for humanoid robots is in its early stages.

However, Wu said that in the long-term, things may change.

"Once we tackle our ability to replace the human hand, and robots can be safely deployed in the same physical space that we do, that will be a game changer for blue-collar work as well."

Don't miss: A humanoid-robot revolution is coming. Don't worry - here's why it will take a while.

-Hannah Pedone

This content was created by MarketWatch, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. MarketWatch is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 12, 2026 13:39 ET (17:39 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.