Airbnb CEO: Manufacturing may return to the US, but those jobs won't
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky expects manufacturing to return to the U.S., but not the jobs that come with it.
Speaking at an Economic Club of New York event on Monday, Chesky speculated that President Donald J. Trump’s election was driven global economic uncertainty in the US, specifically people feeling angry about their prospects not being as good as they once were.
“The thing is — globalization has nothing on automation. That is the reality,” he said.
Just because manufacturing comes back to America doesn’t mean those jobs will return, he said. He added that labels on clothes might as well say in parentheses “made by robots in America.”
“That’s what tech is going to do,” Chesky said, adding, “Robots are going to be cheaper than China.”
He pointed to a study done by Oxford University a couple years ago that found half of the jobs in the U.S. will be automated in 20 years.
“Many believe that was a vast conservative, understatement,” he said, later adding, “Many people in tech think it’s going to happen much sooner.”
“I am not scared, I am actually very optimistic. We have super computers in our pocket,” he said.
He added that Airbnb had a study commissioned to look at the economic impact from within their ecosystem. The study looked at direct impacts (spending money in homes) and indirect impacts (spending money in neighborhoods).
“This year, it is estimated that Airbnb will create 1.3 million jobs. I hope that’s just the beginning,” Chesky said.
For example, they’re instituting a “living wage pledge,” where Airbnb hosts promise to pay workers from cleaning companies at least $15 per hour.
He said there are many things that can stimulate the economy.
“It’s important to realize the world is changing,” he said, adding that those who embrace technology will be ahead of the curve.
Chesky said they’re never going to automate their Airbnb hosts because “they offer something robots can’t, which is human connection.”
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Julia La Roche is a finance reporter at Yahoo Finance.
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