Dry Powder: The Private Equity Podcast
Macro Update: The Expanding Frontiers of Automation
From strawberry picking to bricklaying, automation is revolutionizing unexpected corners of the workforce.
Previously on Dry Powder, Karen Harris, the managing director of Bain’s Macro Trends Group, walked us through the political realignments of 2024 and how they might impact the global economy in 2025.
You can listen to this episode of Dry Powder and catch future episodes by subscribing on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you may listen.
Today on the show, we take a closer look at the aging of global workforces and the imperative to automate. Karen has been analyzing these trends for years, but this year, the risks and opportunities seem to be emerging at a breakneck pace.
“There are areas that, 20 years ago, people would’ve said can’t be automated, like construction,” Karen says. “There are now semiautonomous mason robots that help do the heavy part of laying bricks.”
I ask Karen where investments in automation are surging and whether job creation will outpace job destruction, as it has in previous eras of rapid automation.
The Private Equity Podcast
In our podcast series, Bain's Hugh MacArthur interviews leading experts on the trends and opportunities that will redefine the private equity industry.
First published in enero 2025