Community colleges focus on retraining workers displaced by artificial intelligence

As artificial intelligence continues to fill factory positions typically held by high school graduates, some community colleges are innovating to meet the new need for worker "retraining" programs. According to an analysis by Ball State University, automation in American manufacturing has cut nine of every ten jobs in the private sector since 2000. Though many jobs in manufacturing still exist that cannot be performed by machines, they now require workers with more training than a traditional high school diploma. In other words, a mismatch exists between current workforce skills and the demands of 21st-century manufacturing jobs that did not exist before the turn of the century. Without a clear educational path to reclaiming their displaced jobs, middle-age to older workers often choose not to re-enter the workforce or re-enroll in school, preferring instead to collect unemployment checks.