Georgieva told AFP that AI will impact 60 per cent of jobs in advanced economies and 40 per cent in developing countries. However, she added, AI will affect only half of the jobs negatively and the rest may benefit from enhanced productivity gains.

India, which stands tall among developing countries, could also take a hit, but the impact should be minimal for the blue-collar workers. Analysts believe the impact of AI on blue-collar jobs would be low as they typically involve human cognition and emotions. Surprisingly, some analysts also believe that the hiring trend for blue-collar jobs may be on an upward trajectory after AI integration.

According to the Pearson Skills Outlook report, only 1 per cent of blue-collar jobs will be affected by the incorporation of generative AI. A year-end study by Indeed, an employment website for job listings, noted a 7.40 per cent rise in blue-collar jobs in 2023. It said logistics, construction, real estate, and tourism and hospitality sectors are driving up job opportunities in this segment, news reportssaid.

“2024 will witness a surge in the blue-collar industry in India, experiencing notable growth in sectors such as construction, manufacturing, e-commerce, and agriculture. Anticipated spikes in demand are also expected from sectors like logistics, mobility, retail, information technology as well as banking and financial services,” said VC Karthic, Founder and CEO, Buzzworks Business Services Pvt Ltd, a staffing agency.

Karthic said there will be an increase in women joining the blue-collar workforce.

A recent report by Team Lease, a recruitment and human resources services company, estimated that the country has a blue-collar workforce of 450 million people.The expansion of the gig economy, boosted by companies such as Uber, Blinkit, and Zomato, is likely to drive up the demand for blue-collar jobs. As the landscape for blue-collar jobs evolves, AI incorporation with digital platforms can help these firms collect, analyse, and sort data on workers in a swift and unbiased manner.

AI can not only help companies create a digital database of their blue-collar workers ( for performance assessment), but it can also help the workers chart out a flexible work schedule – unlike earlier times when employers dictated work hours.

“When computers came, there was a fear that these machines would take away jobs. However, these new-age machines supported jobs and brought in more efficiency, productivity, and ease of doing work. Likewise, AI will help jobs evolve, which will also happen in the case of blue-collar jobs,” said Richa Saxena, Associate Professor at the Institute of Management and Technology, Ghaziabad.

However, the incorporation of AI will require upskilling and reskilling of blue-collar workers to make them dextrous. With a rapidly increasing internet penetration rate in the country, this should not be difficult.

Already, India has the highest data consumption rate worldwide at 14.1 GBdata per person a month. The number of active internet users is the second highest globally. According to an India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF) report, the number of smartphone users in the country is expected to reach 887.4 million by 2030 compared to 750 million in 2021.

But there’s another problem that may hinder reskilling and upskilling blue-collar workers. Saxena said there is a fear of initial hesitation among these workers in adapting to the rapid change brought by AI. If they resist it, they would struggle to survive in the highly competitive jobs market, she added.

Karthic of Buzzworks Business, however, appeared to disagree. He said AI can help close the skill gap. “AI can be used by employers to close the skill gap by training workers in less time. It will also help blue-collar workers to move to higher positions by automating many low-skill manual tasks,” he said.

The central government has launched several schemes, including Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, Jan Shikshan Sansthan, National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme, and Craftsmen Training Scheme, to upskill and reskill blue-collar workers. So far, over 14 million candidates have been trained under PMKVY, 2 million each under JSS and NAPS, and 6 million under CTS.

Although the government schemes are empowering blue-collar workers, the incorporation of AI may lead to the reshaping of these programmes to meet industry demands in the digital age.