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The Story: New technology is coming after jobs, and particularly the jobs of women without college degrees. Two-thirds of job losses over the next decade are projected to affect work currently held by women who do not hold a bachelor’s degree.

This is at least according to a recent report from think tank Third Way. Their team projects that roles like secretary, administrative assistant, or customer service will be disproportionately replaced by technological advancements in coming years. And these jobs are largely held by women, the majority of whom do not have a college degree.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that 97% of roles that don't require a bachelor's degree are in the industries likeliest to lose the most jobs over the next ten years.

And according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse, enrollment in college is currently declining too. Undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022 nationwide, with declines even after the return to in-person classes.

Third Way’s senior economic policy advisor Curran McSwigan says “Opportunity is really shrinking for women without a degree.” But, of course, projections are just projections. McSwigan believes there are still ways to improve the outlook for non-educated women in the workplace. She provides two policy solutions:

1. Improve the quality of lower wage jobs that women might take

2. Provide more opportunities for women to break into male-dominated industries.

The Expert Take: Yasmin Cruz Ferrine, general partner at Visible Hands, believes these proposed policy solutions are viable and that “it’s really important from a policy standpoint to promote jobs that create livable wages.”

Although Yasmin is worried about decreasing opportunities for women in the workforce as technology makes certain roles obsolete, she doesn’t believe a chatbot can replace the complexity of human skills: