What does the future of jobs look like? This is what experts think

The jobs we have today won't will not be the ones that we have tomorrow. Neither will the skills. So what will the future of jobs look like, and what should we be doing to prepare? This is what the experts think.

No more jobs for life

New jobs supported by the right education

“In the very near future we won’t have the same jobs that we have today, but new jobs will be created. We must empower people with the right education and opportunities. I believe our greatest days are ahead of us, but this rests on embracing our most promising technologies — and shaping them — to lift people up and create opportunity at all levels."

Devin Wenig, President and CEO, eBay

What we need to teach our children

“Cultivating digital intelligence grounded in human values is essential for our kids to become masters of technology instead of being mastered by it.”

“Without a national digital education programme, command of and access to technology will be distributed unevenly, exacerbating inequality and hindering socio-economic mobility.”

Yuhyun Park, Chair, infollutionZERO Foundation

Policy needs to catch up

“While there are deeply polarized views about how technology will impact employment, there is agreement that we are in a period of transition. Policy needs to catch up and facilitate this transition. We propose four areas of action: recognition of all work models and agile implementation of new regulations, updated social protection, adult learning and continuous re-skilling, and proactive employment services.”

Saadia Zahidi, Head of Education, Gender and Work and Member of Executive Committee, World Economic Forum Geneva

Disruption is nothing new

“The disruptive effects of innovation are nothing new: the farm worker, transported to the industrial factory in the latter half of the 18th century, would have experienced levels of devastation to their lives and society that make the present changes seem minor in comparison.”

Mark Dodgson, Director, Technology and Innovation Management Centre, University of Queensland Business School and David Gann, Vice President, Imperial College.

Why empathy will matter

Learning matters

“In an environment where new skills emerge as fast as others become extinct, employability is less about what you already know and more about your capacity to learn.”

Jonas Prising, Chairman and CEO, ManpowerGroup

Man or machine?

“Autopilot didn’t put pilots out of a job; instead it foreshadowed an increasing collaboration between human and machine on complex tasks.”

Laurent Haug, author

Shifting skills … shifting jobs

“Many members of the global workforce can’t keep up with the shift in skills required for jobs, which are seen by some as part of the evolving Fourth Industrial Revolution.”

Allen Blue, Co-Founder and Vice President, Product Management, LinkedIn

Digital brings opportunities for everyone

An equal future

“The future won’t be a man’s world, it will be a skilled world – one where women have equal access, representation and skills to capture the opportunities in industries and jobs that are growing and well-paid.”

Mara Swan, Executive Vice President, Global Strategy and Talent, ManpowerGroup

Robots won’t be taking our jobs

“The biggest misconception I’ve heard here at Davos is this idea that technology is going to come for all of our jobs and there’s nothing we can do about it. The reality is that It’s a more powerful tool than we have ever had before, that means we had more power to shape that going forward.”

Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the MIT Initiative for the Digital Economy

Nor will computers

“The first is that occupations that use computers grow faster, not slower – and there is no sign of technology causing large scale unemployment or polarization.

The second insight is that instead of job losses, there is a resulting need for new skills: “New technology can increase demand for an occupation, offsetting putative job losses.”

Erik Brynjolfsson, Director of the MIT Initiative for the Digital Economy

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