Advance supporting physical job roles in the UK
With the high-speed advancement and adoption of AI across all sectors of the UK economy, including the Banking Sector, Advance has lent its support to “The New Contract”, a UK non-profit campaigning organisation, who believe that Artificial Intelligence is a general-purpose technology that will fundamentally transform society in the UK. Their vision is that everyone in the UK benefits from a managed AI transition that puts workers and human dignity at its heart; that makes the world fairer, not more unequal; and that gives UK citizens a meaningful say in decisions that will affect their lives.
The Problem
AI is already reshaping work. More than 40% of employers told the World Economic Forum that they plan to cut jobs by 2030 because of AI. In South Korea, the professional and IT sectors lost 147,000 youth jobs to AI in a single month earlier this year. In the UK, the NEET figure has climbed to 957,000 — up 36,000 since the last General Election.
What is needed
In the first instance, firms should be encouraged — and where necessary required — to retrain existing workers rather than replace them. But some displacement is coming either way, and the safety net has to hold. What’s needed is what the IPPR calls “directionism”: policy that doesn’t just accelerate the technology, but steers it.
We’re campaigning for:
- Training subsidies for displaced workers
- A redeployment programme to move workers into sectors with skills shortages
- A time-limited job subsidy scheme for workers and companies at the sharp end of industrial change
- The reintroduction of Educational Maintenance Allowances
- Stronger unemployment insurance, so people don’t fall off a financial cliff if they retrain, change jobs, or are made redundant
If it becomes clear that AI is reducing the overall demand for labour, we’ll also push for fiscal and legal incentives to reduce working time, and for serious consideration of expansions to the safety net, including Universal Basic Income.
Young workers, women, and people in entry-level and service roles are most exposed. The UK — with its huge Services Sector — is particularly at risk. Some of what we’re seeing is “AI-washing”: executives using AI as a pretext for redundancies they were planning anyway. But that doesn’t mean we won’t see dislocation.
Past technological revolutions ultimately created more demand for labour than they destroyed. AI might too. But it’s moving far faster than the steam engine or electricity, and will demand faster policy responses.
Other unions supporting this activity include the GMB, NASUWT, NEU, UCU, PCS.
