The general view on how technology will affect jobs in the future usually splits into two opinions. The optimists believe that it will lead to world in which there are no more tedious tasks and everyone can focus on more meaningful jobs and careers. The pessimists believe that, with more jobs being automated and populations projected to increase, it will lead to a world where the vast majority will have to struggle to find jobs after the jobs they would have formerly been able to obtain have been taken by machines. I’m not sure which end of the spectrum the future will actually lean toward, but I think that if we’re going to try to lean as far as possible toward the more optimistic outcome, then education needs to be seriously improved, and made more available to others.
While I do believe that technology will take away many of the jobs we currently have, I also believe that many new jobs will be created as a result and that, within reason, there will be enough to sustain our population. However I also believe that those jobs will require much more skill than the ones that are currently disappearing and that just because there will be enough jobs does not mean everyone will be qualified for those jobs. The solution obviously is improved and more available higher education. Attempts at this are already being made, such as President Obama’s plan to make community college free for students that maintain a 2.5 GPA and meet other requirements. However, if the education students are receiving isn’t of sufficient quality, none of that will matter as it will quickly become obvious whether or not someone can handle the more technical jobs of the future.
Another problem I see within the future of work is the balance between workers’ quality of life and employers’ demands. There is a lot of talk about the benefits of a flexible work schedule, both for the employee, and the employer. However, those that are willing to put in more overtime and show extra effort with their jobs are more likely to stay hired and move up the ranks. In a world where less complicated jobs are mostly gone, even if flexible work hours become more common, it is whichever employee is capable of fitting their employer’s preferred schedule that will most likely end up being more successful. If a more rigid schedule is found to be more effective for certain positions (I highly doubt it will be the case for all positions), then employees hoping to move up within those fields will ultimately still be forced into rigid time slots. Unless policies are implemented to make sure jobs don’t infringe too much on an employee’s quality of life, we may end up having workers who must complete even more complicated tasks than those that currently exist and do so on rigid, sleep-depriving, wellness-limiting schedules similar to those of today.
Sources:
http://op-talk.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/12/does-your-work-fit-your-life/
