Former Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb Talks AI in Jobs

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio, news.

**Carol Massar** (0:07)
Now Bloomberg News was reporting out earlier this week that artificial intelligence is pulling the global labor market in two opposite directions, rewarding companies that use AI to enhance human skills while leaving those who use it merely to cut costs further behind. This is according to a new study that's out from PricewaterhouseCoopers.

**Tim Stenovec** (0:25)
It's the PwC 2026 AI jobs barometer and it showed that roles requiring specific AI skills increased almost eight times faster than the total job market in 2025 Such roles are also seeing higher wage growth among other things.

**Carol Massar** (0:37)
Yeah, it's interesting. It's something we talk about a lot and with the jobs report on Thursday, it's certainly something we think about as well. Hey, we should point out working to raise awareness and take action on what's coming at workers. Eric Holcomb, he's a 51st Governor of Indiana. He's co-founder of Raise Us, who along with Gina Raimondo, who is the 40th US. Secretary of Commerce and the 75th Governor of Rhode Island, launched Raise Us. It's a non-partisan national organization partnering with governors, employers, workers and training organizations to help the American workforce help really kind of them make a successful transition to an AI economy. I would largely argue that we're still trying to figure out what that AI economy looks like. He joins us from Brownsburg, Indiana.
Governor Holcomb, great to have you here with Tim and myself. Welcome to Bloomberg again.
First up, I want to take a step back if we could, and I'm curious about how you view the scope of AI-related labor problems that your venture is looking to address. What challenges do you think the country is going to be facing, and what challenges do you think the workforce will have to be facing in coming years, and how acute will it get?

**Eric Holcomb** (1:46)
Sure. Well, it's great to be with you, Carol and Tim. And with every technological advancement, since we're getting ready to celebrate our 250th birthday, and each and every one of those years, we saw innovation and ingenuity and invention that has really propelled not just America, but the world for the good. And we're living in a time right now when the scale and pace of change, which can be very unsettling, lead to uncertainty, lead to thoughts of, will I be left out? Will I be sidelined? Will I still have a place in the workforce? And we are at Raise Us, Gina Romando, myself, and a big team of talented folks are out to make sure that the American worker knows that there are pathways that will scale up alongside them. As the AI infused economy and quantum and robots over the coming decade really comes to bear. So it's all about being prepared for the moment right now and for tomorrow and making sure, as you said, Carol, that we're working with the right stakeholders, the decision makers that can allocate and steer resources, some of which will be ours, some of which will be states, some of which will be the employers, some of which will be the post-secondary education and training providers. It's really getting folks around the table and saying, here are the sectors, here are the skill sets that get you to a meaningful career.
If you find yourself in a situation, that's what you're looking for.

**Tim Stenovec** (3:23)
Well, speaking of stakeholders, let's talk a little bit about the organizations and the companies too, that are partnering with your organization. They include companies such as Amazon, Anthropic, Microsoft, the Open AI Foundation.
I mean, these are the companies that are bringing us into the AI revolution right now.
Would it be fair for some people to view partnerships with those organizations maybe being skeptical to the work that the organization is doing?

**Carol Massar** (3:52)
A little bit like having the foxes in the hen house.

**Eric Holcomb** (3:56)
Well, we operate independently and we're appreciative of everyone's support. I would just say this, I would look at it as if, you know, rewind the tape 50 years, 100 years, pick the time in our history where large scale investors and inventors, be it electricity or the internet or rubber, you name it, which has changed kind of local economies.
We want those folks that are creating that change to be part of the solution. Every sector out there is IT, is tech, of course, but so is advanced manufacturing, so is life sciences, so is construction, so is hospitality and tourism. And that means that they're going to remain competitive as they continue to add these technological advancements into their business model. We just want to make sure that the American worker, that we have a people strategy. And to do that, we're going to need resources. So I would look at these supporters as people who want to be part of the solution to the inevitable technological gains that's going to lead to, in my opinion, mass new opportunities for people if we have the right skill sets for those opportunities.