{"slug": "ai-was-supposed-to-put-white-collar-professionals-at-risk-instead-another-group", "title": "AI was supposed to put white-collar professionals at risk. Instead, another group is shrinking fast", "summary": "Economist Gad Levanon's analysis of U.S. government employment data from the past two years shows that clerical roles such as records clerks, bookkeepers, and customer service staff are contracting rapidly, while high-risk roles like management, engineering, science, and law continue to expand. Levanon found that clerical decline is not due to shrinking industries but occurs even within sectors where managerial roles are growing. Experts attribute this to AI automating standardized, rules-based tasks in clerical jobs, while managerial and professional roles involve responsibility and thought leadership that AI cannot replace.", "body_md": "The standard approach to predicting [AI’s impact on jobs](https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/1-in-7-jobs-are-at-risk-of-ai-automation-shrm-says/91248829) involved building rankings based on how many of an occupation’s tasks could theoretically be [handled by technology instead](https://www.fastcompany.com/91229781/ai-is-already-taking-jobs-research-shows-routine-tasks-are-the-first-to-go). [Rankings like these](https://finance.yahoo.com/sectors/technology/articles/ai-white-collar-jobs-most-011746093.html) consistently placed [managers](https://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/biggest-leadership-risk-strategy-execution-managers/91319034), financial analysts, and even [lawyers](https://www.inc.com/ken-sterling/think-chatgpt-can-replace-your-legal-advice-think-again/91324150) near the top of the risk list, often above clerical positions like data entry or filing.\n\nLast week, economist Gad Levanon put that theory to the test using government employment data from the past two years, and [published his findings](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/jobs-technology-actually-taking-gad-levanon-ifpkc).\n\nWhat he found contrasted what had been previously reported: Roles long flagged as high risk—like management, engineering, science, and law—have continued expanding, and in some cases picked up speed.\n\nAt the same time, [occupations](https://www.fastcompany.com/91552415/ai-is-eliminating-entry-level-jobs-education-needs-to-fill-the-gap) that weren’t considered especially vulnerable, including records clerks, bookkeepers, and [customer service](https://www.inc.com/customer-service) staff, are [contracting rapidly](https://www.fastcompany.com/91547256/ai-is-already-killing-the-executive-assistant-job).\n\nTo make sure clerical decline wasn’t simply a by-product of those roles sitting inside shrinking industries, Levanon measured each occupation’s growth against the average growth across the industries where it’s found, isolating what belonged to the occupation itself rather than its surroundings.\n\nThe result held up: Clerical work isn’t shrinking because it happens to sit in a struggling sector. It’s shrinking inside sectors where managerial roles are expanding.\n\nAs unexpected as that seems, several experts say it’s consistent with how [AI](https://www.inc.com/artificial-intelligence) is actually being applied on the job. “There is a difference between the tasks a professional performs and the responsibility that comes with those tasks,” Rudy DeFelice, executive vice president and global head of [AI](https://www.fastcompany.com/section/artificial-intelligence) strategy at Harbor Global, tells *Inc.* “AI currently automates portions of these jobs, but it does not automate the responsibility attached to them.”\n\nThis distinction between task and responsibility helps explain why [some roles are shrinking faster than others](https://www.fastcompany.com/91585058/ai-is-revealing-the-hidden-flaws-in-the-labor-market-technology-ai-women-workplace-inequality). “The reason we’re seeing an immediate impact on clerical roles is that they involve standardized, rules-based processes that are relatively easy to automate end-to-end,” Sheldon Arora, CEO of StaffDNA, tells *Inc.* “As for managerial roles, companies won’t want to replace entire professions just because AI can complete part of the work.”\n\nIn Arora’s view, “AI shouldn’t and really can’t replace human-level work that involves thought leadership, building and managing teams, and profession-specific experience like law, medicine, and analysis. A minimal or even medium level of AI exposure in these professions doesn’t equal replacement.”\n\nLooking further out, administrative work, customer support, documentation, and back-office functions are expected to continue to bear the brunt of this shift as experts project steady, incremental declines in those areas over the next three to five years as AI becomes more deeply woven into standard business operations.\n\nThat trajectory is already reshaping how workers view their own career security. “People are fundamentally questioning their place within organizations and where their future value lies, an uncertainty only intensified by the relentless wave of new technology,” Jeff McMillan, CEO and founder of AI advisory and education firm McMillanAI, tells *Inc.* “This anxiety is concentrating heavily within the middle management layer.”\n\nAs for the future, some believe roles rooted in judgment and interpersonal skills are better insulated from this kind of disruption. Kelly Heuer, vice president of learning at the Project Management Institute, says managers, analysts, and lawyers lean on skills that don’t erode with automation.\n\n“Their roles don’t depend on technical skills but rather a high level of critical thinking, strong stakeholder management, and sharp human judgment that they practice every single day to help them navigate uncertainty and turn strategic priorities into impactful outcomes,” she says.\n\n*—By Amaya Nichole*\n\n*This article originally appeared on *Fast Company\n\nInc. *is the voice of the American entrepreneur. We inspire, inform, and document the most fascinating people in business: the risk-takers, the innovators, and the ultra-driven go-getters that represent the most dynamic force in the American economy.*", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-was-supposed-to-put-white-collar-professionals-at-risk-instead-another-group", "canonical_source": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91584114/ai-was-supposed-put-white-collar-professionals-risk-instead-another-group-shrinking-fast", "published_at": "2026-08-18 12:57:38+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-18 13:44:29.770668+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy"], "entities": ["Gad Levanon", "Harbor Global", "Rudy DeFelice", "StaffDNA", "Sheldon Arora"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-was-supposed-to-put-white-collar-professionals-at-risk-instead-another-group", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-was-supposed-to-put-white-collar-professionals-at-risk-instead-another-group.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-was-supposed-to-put-white-collar-professionals-at-risk-instead-another-group.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-was-supposed-to-put-white-collar-professionals-at-risk-instead-another-group.jsonld"}}