Outside In | ‘Silver’ population must remain a significant creative force in conceiving future products, and helping us make them
Profound demographic changes mean the world’s filling with older people, with Japan and Hong Kong at the fore, with almost a quarter of our populations now moving into retirement
As flagged last Monday, I want to explore further the “future jobs crisis”.
Yes true, dramatic technology changes are in the process of destroying many jobs, and redefining the nature of many more.
But suggestions that this means there will be fewer jobs, or that we are moving into a “post work” world supported by some kind of universal basic income are misplaced, naive and utopian.
Rather, our challenge is that the pace of technological change is making it tough to anticipate what skills our future workforce will need, and that many of our education institutions are not fit for purpose in preparing people for the jobs of the future.
My hunch is that the future will be filled with more jobs, rather than less; that skills mismatches will be a core problem; and that old-fashioned attitudes to ageing and retirement are blocking our older adults from ensuring we meet the challenges.
Profound demographic changes mean that the world is filling with older people, with Japan and Hong Kong at the fore, with almost a quarter of our populations now moving into retirement.