5
ADVANCING MISSING MIDDLE SKILLS FOR HUMAN–AI COLLABORATION
Figure 1: THE HUMAN SKILLS SURGE
Our analysis of the U.S. Department of Labor’s O*NET database of
occupational data provides evidence of this surge in skills.
2
We analyzed the evolution of more than 100 abilities, skills, tasks,
and working styles in the U.S. over the last decade and found that
creativity, complex reasoning and socio-emotional intelligence
have sharply increased in importance for many jobs.
Specically, more than half of U.S. jobs need higher-level
creativity, over 45 percent require more complex reasoning, and
35 percent need more socio-emotional skills than in the past.
The relative importance of physical, operational and simple
analytical skills has waned, even in job proles focused on physical
strengths and machine operation (see Figure 2: Evidence of
Human Skills Surge in U.S. Jobs).
For instance, industrial engineers now nd themselves interacting
more with leadership and shop-oor personnel to develop
production and design standards, rather than maintain equipment.
Similarly, because of automation, sales personnel write client
reports and maintain paperwork less frequently than in the past.
Consequently, socio-emotional intelligence for connecting with
clients is now more germane to the job.
Source: Accenture Research
PRE-INDUSTRIAL
Machine-like
humans
Resource Ingenuity
• Creative use of natural resources
• Managing materials and manual labor
• Physical strength, stamina, body
equilibrium abilities
INDUSTRIAL ERA
Machine automation aids
humans
Operations Management
• Creativity of product and process
design
• Managing operations, personnel,
finances
• Communication, coordination and
organization skills
INFORMATION ERA
Machine data informs
humans
Knowledge Management
• Creativity of service design and
delivery
• Managing data, information
• Analytical reasoning and STEM
(science, technology, engineering,
math) or technical skills
EXPERIENCE ERA
Machine intelligence amplifies
humans
Collaborative Intelligence
• Unconstrained creativity of
Human+Machine
• Managing hyper-relevant experiences
• Socio-emotional intelligence and HEAT
(humanities, engineering, arts,
technology) or multidisciplinary skills
1760s
1970s
2010s
