Obama to spotlight US workers in Netflix documentary

By SAUL LOEB / AFP

Barack Obama will be back in the public view next month in a Netflix-produced documentary series in which the former US president explores the role of work in American lives.

Barack Obama will be back in the public view next month in a Netflix-produced documentary series in which the former US president explores the role of work in American lives.

"I'm excited to share the trailer for 'Working,'" Obama tweeted.

"In this series, I talk to American workers across various industries – from hospitality and technology to home care – to understand their jobs and hopes for the future," he added.

In the series entitled "Working: What We Do All Day," Obama takes on hot topics such as the appeal of certain jobs, repercussions of the development of artificial intelligence and even the quest for finding meaning at work.

The trailer for the documentary was released Thursday.

His approach was inspired by the book "Working" by Studs Terkel (1912-2008), an influential figure of the American left.

Obama, who left office in 2017, employs his famous speaking voice to narrate the series, which will "explore ways to find meaning at work, and to create a bond through the experiences and the difficulties," the US streaming giant said on its site.

The series was produced by Concordia Studio and Higher Ground, a production company founded by Obama and Michelle Obama, in 2018, which bought distribution rights to the Oscar-winning 2019 documentary "American Factory," which also looked at the culture of work within the United States.

The documentary series will be broadcast from May 17 on Netflix.

© Agence France-Presse