German employment agency chief: AI will destroy, generate many jobs

Artificial intelligence (AI) will transform the German labour market by both destroying jobs and creating a similar number of new ones, Andrea Nahles, head of the Federal Employment Agency (BA), forecast in remarks published on Tuesday.

"We predict that around 800,000 jobs in Germany will disappear over the next 15 years as a result of AI, but a similar number of new jobs will also be created," Nahles told the Handelsblatt newspaper.

"Some industries will be hit harder by job losses, such as business service providers and analytical positions in insurance companies and banks. Nevertheless, I would like to see more investment in AI in Germany - but only if it increases productivity, not simply because it is fashionable," she said.

Nahles said job losses would not necessarily affect better qualified workers more than other groups.

"In the United States, there was a shocking study about young university graduates. Here in Germany, too, graduates are taking longer to enter the labour market and may not get their dream jobs - but they still have far better prospects than everyone else," she said.

Nahles said that overall weakness in the economy was also playing a major role here, and she noted that occupations less susceptible to AI, such as skilled trades, were proving relatively resilient.

"Even unskilled and semi-skilled workers still have opportunities, because in some cases it simply isn't worthwhile replacing them with AI," she said.