This is what the co-founder of LinkedIn says about the future of work

The pandemic has made learning new skills, and the skills we'll need for the future of work, more difficult, says Allen Blue, co-founder of LinkedIn.

"One of the things we've discovered in our work with the World Economic Forum is the importance of remote learning. Delivering skills at a distance is absolutely essential in a time when so much is changing," he said in an interview with the Forum. "And frankly, coming together to learn new things is more difficult."

Access to education is, therefore, vital, he added. "That means basic investments in infrastructure like broadband access and mobile devices."

Learning new skills

A few months ago, Microsoft and LinkedIn announced a global reskilling project with the aim of reskilling 25 million people worldwide.

"We identified several key types of jobs, including data analysts, financial analysts, customer service agents, I.T. support and help-desk personnel, which are accessible to many, many people and provided training programmes in order to help them gain the skills necessary to do those jobs," Blue said.

We need open minds and open eyes about which skills will be important in future though, he added.

Accelerating inequality

Blue also warned about the risks of widening inequality.

"It's a healthcare crisis, but it's also an economic crisis," he said. "The biggest impact is actually going to be the acceleration of inequality." One where the rich get richer - in money, in skills, in connections, he explained.

And, it is these people who will be better placed to navigate the new world we're entering, he said. So, we need to make a commitment, one that returns a sense of equality, of access and of opportunity.

"The pandemic has left us with severe economic consequences. We're essentially living out a world where people who were most underserved, most underrepresented, are being hurt the most within the pandemic."

The jobs of tomorrow

"The jobs of tomorrow are technologically-enabled," said Blue. "But, also extremely human and human-centred."

He explained that, while jobs might be technological - for example a data scientist or artificial intelligence engineer - they might be paired with a saleperson, who knows how to use the technology, or a marketer who understands how AI works.

"That combination of these human and creative considerations, with the technology which is going to enable those markets and those roles in the future, that's the combination we're really looking at."