🤖 Are We Entering a Silent Labor Crisis?

A few days ago I found myself reflecting on something I have been observing for years, but only now started to connect.

When I arrived from Chile to the Netherlands in the middle of the pandemic, the labor market was very different. At that time, companies were still hiring engineers, project managers, architects, specialists, and external consultants to move complex projects forward. There was room for contractors, service companies, and independent professionals. I myself was hired from Chile to work in Europe as a contractor. If more work appeared, the solution seemed quite simple: hire more people.

Today, barely six years later, I have the feeling that the conversation has changed completely. And the most curious thing is that the work did not disappear. People did.

Projects still exist. Clients still call. Systems still fail. Operations still run.

The difference is that now we expect fewer people to do the same work that entire teams used to do before. And often even more.

From growth to cost reduction

For much of my professional career, I felt that companies competed to attract talent. The conversation revolved around how to execute more projects, how to innovate faster, or how to find specialists capable of solving complex problems.

Today I perceive something different. The priority seems to be efficiency. Reducing costs. Optimizing structures. Consolidating teams. Outsourcing functions. Automating processes. And, above all, doing more with less.

I have seen entire organizations transform in just a few years. Companies that once maintained large internal teams now depend on global providers. Entire departments were reduced. Specialized roles disappeared. And many times the work was simply absorbed by those who remained.

The workload did not disappear. It only changed owners.

Maybe that is why one of the phrases I hear most often lately among colleagues is:

“I am exhausted.”

Not because there is less work. But because the same work is being distributed among fewer people.

The promise of artificial intelligence

I am fascinated by artificial intelligence. I use it every day. I am studying it, building projects with it, and constantly learning about its capabilities. It would be absurd to deny the impact it is having.

But I also believe that many times we are confusing potential with reality.

I often hear that AI will solve operational problems, replace repetitive tasks, increase productivity, and allow companies to work with smaller teams. And part of that is probably true.

What I am not so sure about is whether we are being equally realistic about its limits.

In my experience, AI is more like a horse than a driver. It has strength. It has speed. It can multiply a person’s capacity. But it needs direction. It needs judgment. It needs context. It needs someone who knows where it is going.

AI does not execute a strategy by itself. It does not lead teams. It does not assume responsibility. It does not truly understand the consequences of a decision. At least not today.

That is why I worry when some organizations seem to be making decisions as if technology had already solved problems it has not yet solved.

When experience stops mattering

Not long ago I remembered something from my years studying telecommunications. Back then, talking about Cisco meant talking about technical excellence. If you had a complex problem, you quickly reached an expert who knew the product in depth. If that person could not solve it, the case was escalated to someone even more experienced.

Joining a call with those engineers was almost like attending a masterclass.

Today the experience is often different. Longer processes. More forms. More layers. More escalations. More bureaucracy. And many times less specialized knowledge at the first point of contact.

This is not a problem exclusive to Cisco. I see it across many industries. The obsession with efficiency has displaced part of the value that used to be assigned to experience. And when that happens, quality eventually suffers.

Maybe costs go down. But something difficult to measure in a spreadsheet is also lost: accumulated knowledge.

What really worries me

Technology does not worry me. Technology has always changed the world. It has done so for centuries. I also do not believe we should stop the advance of artificial intelligence. That would be absurd.

What worries me is something much simpler.

I do not understand what society will look like if a significant part of human work disappears. Maybe there are economists, academics, or leaders who have answers for that. I do not. I only have questions.

Because a society does not function only because of technology. It functions because people work. They generate income. They consume. They pay taxes. They form families. They build communities.

If one day AI replaces millions of jobs, how will that balance be sustained?

Who will buy the products?

Who will pay the taxes?

Who will fund the systems that today depend on the work of millions of people?

Maybe an answer exists. Maybe we have not found it yet.

Looking ahead

I am forty years old. I still have more than twenty years of professional career ahead of me. And if I, after years working in technology, have doubts about what the labor market will look like in a decade, I can imagine how someone who is just starting must feel.

Or what it will be like for our children.

Maybe artificial intelligence will lead us to a better society. I hope so.

But when I look at what is happening today in many industries, I see smaller teams, fewer opportunities, slower hiring processes, and a level of uncertainty that did not exist with this intensity before.

That is why I believe the conversation should not focus only on how fast technology is advancing. We should also ask what kind of society we want to build around it.

Because a company can operate with fewer workers. But a society is much more complex than a spreadsheet.

And that, at least for me, remains the most important question of all.

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✍️ Claudio from ViaMind

“Dare to imagine, create and transform.”

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