Matt Sigelman, President of Burning Glass Institute: Will AI Start Careers In The Middle?

We may soon face a future where AI Agents handle the bulk of low-skilled, entry-level work, forcing educators to figure out how to train people to start their careers in the middle of the ladder instead of on the first rung. That’s the conclusion our guest Matt Sigelman is drawing from research on AI conducted by the organization he heads, Burning Glass Institute, a leading labor market analytics firm. “I think there are questions here both for how AI helps people get into work, but also for whether people can move up within it,” he tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. This challenge comes on top of deficiencies Burning Glass has identified in how high schools handle workforce training. “When you look at all the credentials students are earning in high school today, only about 18% are actually in demand and lead to high mobility jobs.” Those roles, which Sigelman calls “launchpad jobs” have helped two million workers in the US without degrees earn six figure salaries. Conversely, Burning Glass research shows if you pick the wrong type of job at the start of your career, it can lead to poverty by age forty. In his encore appearance on WorkforceRx, this pioneer in real-time labor market data shares other research on career mobility in the US and abroad, provides an update on the movement to increase skills-based hiring, and reveals what he thinks are the new “power skills” of the 21st century workforce. Don’t miss this wide-ranging and revealing conversation.