SCRANTON — Expect — and prepare for — job dislocation from automation and technological advances in an increasingly digital economy, the former White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama told a crowd of University of Scranton students in a lecture Wednesday.
Denis McDonough, the White House chief of staff from 2013 to 2017, now is a senior principal at the Markle Foundation, a New York based-nonprofit concerned with technology, health care and national security, and a member of its Rework America Task Force.
Comprised of a coalition of diverse leaders from technology, business, labor, education and the public sector, the task force aims to transform America’s outdated labor market so all Americans, especially the nearly 70% without a college degree, can thrive in the digital economy.
The wide-ranging lecture, presented in a Q&A format, included panelists Matthew Meyer, Ph.D., a philosophy professor at the university, and Sarah Hofius Hall, education reporter for The Times-Tribune.
Noting the economy of Northeast Pennsylvania changed from coal and manufacturing to one that’s more service-driven today, with Scranton’s largest employers now in the health care and eduction sectors, Hall asked how the city can benefit from a digital economy.
McDonough said that challenges will come across the board, including job losses from greater automation in manufacturing and an increasing reliance on artificial intelligence. It was a topic that he and Obama spoke a great deal about on their nightly walks, McDonough said.
While the nation manufactures and exports more today than at the height of the post-WWII boom, job numbers changed because of automation and artificial intelligence, McDonough said.
“The question just becomes for us, as we continue to rely on those digitally powered innovations that lower costs for consumers, that increase American competitiveness overseas, what happens to people” put out of jobs, as well as the loss of some of their identity and dignity, he said.
It’s the type of policy question the task force tackles, but there’s no easy answer.
“What will we want to have invested in now” to ensure that people don’t just find themselves displaced or with reduced wages, McDonough said, asking if those investments will come on the job, through a union, or by tuition support from a family or the government.
“The reason I’m optimistic is this has happened in America constantly,” he said. “New generations of Americans have identified new opportunities for economic growth.”
As for what local organizations and employers can do to keep graduating students here, McDonough turned the question into a challenge for students. He urged them to seek work experience through internships with local employers and develop local connections while they’re still here in college.
Reflecting about how Scranton can welcome its growing population of Bhutanese/Nepali refugees, McDonough said experiences of refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants mirrors the experiences of waves of immigrants in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
“Keep doing what you’re doing” in Scranton to welcome refugees, McDonough said.
“Allow people to come here and put their God-given talents to work.”
The forum at the McIlhenny Ballroom of the DeNaples Center launched the university’s Humanities in Action lecture series.
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McDonough’s wide-ranging talk
Other topics Denis McDonough touched on during his talk Wednesday at the University of Scranton:
He remains haunted by the initial website of the Affordable Care Act that was infamous for not working well.
He was surprised by the election in 2016 of President Donald Trump, and believes Trump also was surprised he won.
He believes there was Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He said the potential for Russian interference in future elections remains a threat, one he thinks Trump hasn’t fully acknowledged.
He thinks climate change is a fundamental problem and people need to get serious about it.
— JIM LOCKWOOD