随着失业率升至5.6%，真正值得关注的问题，也许不只是今天有多少人失业，而是明天还会有哪些工作存在。

新西兰经济放缓已经让找工作变得更加困难。Trade Me Jobs表示，其新西兰求职者数据库拥有超过80万名活跃及潜在求职者。这个数字并不代表失业人数，但足以说明新西兰线上就业市场的竞争规模。与此同时，官方数据显示，在线招聘广告正在恢复增长，但这种复苏并不均衡，教育和酒店餐饮等行业的职位仍在减少。

与此同时，人工智能的快速普及可能进一步减少部分入门级和重复性岗位的需求。对于刚刚大学毕业、几乎没有工作经验的年轻人来说，过去那条“先找到第一份工作、积累经验，再逐步发展”的职业道路，可能正在变窄。

联合政府已经推出国家AI战略，鼓励企业利用人工智能提高生产率和竞争力。这个方向本身并没有错。面对全球AI浪潮，新西兰不能选择停留在原地。

但政府仍然需要认真回答一个问题：

政府似乎很清楚企业能够从AI中得到什么，但劳动者可能失去什么？

如果政府希望企业积极采用AI，那么也应该为受到这一转型影响的劳动者制定更加具体的计划——包括加强AI技能培训、扩大毕业生就业项目，以及改革职业教育，使年轻人能够适应不断变化的就业市场。

AI可以提高生产率，但不应该让年轻人承担全部转型成本。

新西兰需要的，不只是拥抱AI的政策，更需要一套帮助普通劳动者适应AI所创造的新世界的就业政策。

Opinion | New Zealand Is Embracing A.I. — But Who Will Protect Young Workers’ First Jobs?

With unemployment at 5.6 percent, the bigger question may not be how many people are out of work today, but what kinds of jobs will still exist tomorrow.

New Zealand’s slowing economy is already making it harder to find work. Trade Me Jobs says its candidate database contains more than 800,000 active and passive job hunters in New Zealand. The figure is not a measure of unemployment, but it underscores the scale of competition in the country’s online labour market.

At the same time, the rapid adoption of A.I. could further reduce demand for some entry-level and routine positions. For young people leaving university with little or no work experience, the traditional path — get a first job, gain experience and work your way up — may be narrowing.

The coalition government has introduced a national A.I. strategy, encouraging businesses to use the technology to improve productivity and competitiveness. The direction itself is not wrong. New Zealand cannot afford to stand still while other economies embrace A.I.

But there is a question the government has yet to answer convincingly: It seems clear about what businesses can gain from A.I. But what about what workers may lose?

If the government wants businesses to adopt A.I., it should also have a serious plan for workers affected by the transition — from stronger A.I. skills training and graduate programmes to vocational education that prepares young people for a changing labour market.

A.I. may raise productivity, but young people should not be expected to bear the entire cost of the transition.

New Zealand needs more than a policy for embracing A.I. It needs a policy for helping its people adapt to the world A.I. is creating.