David Autor

“seemingly destined for obsolescence in the computer era,”

David Autor · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Autor and co-author Neil Thompson described accounting clerks and inventory clerks as seemingly destined for obsolescence in the computer era.

“These occupations faced the same technological force but experienced opposite outcomes,”

David Autor · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Autor and Thompson noted that accounting clerks and inventory clerks faced the same technological force but experienced opposite outcomes.

“The conventional wisdom is that as tasks are automated, workers in more automated occupations are pushed downward into lower-paid, less expertise-intensive jobs. The reality, as these two occupations illustrate, is more nuanced,”

David Autor · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Autor and Thompson wrote that the reality of automation outcomes is more nuanced than the conventional wisdom that workers in automated occupations are pushed into lower-paid jobs.

“The problem is knowing that an occupation is exposed to AI tells you nothing about what will happen to it; not whether employment rises or falls; not whether wages rise or fall,”

David Autor · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Autor argued that knowing an occupation is exposed to AI does not reveal whether its employment or wages will rise or fall.

“Both performed many job tasks that economists classify as 'routine': tasks that follow explicit rules and procedures, exactly the kind that can be codified in software and executed by computers. ... Fast forward to the present, and the trajectories of these occupations have diverged.”

David Autor · said date not stated · reported 2026-09-13

Autor and Thompson wrote that both accounting and inventory clerks performed routine tasks, but their trajectories later diverged.