Job of the future

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What will work look like in 15 years’ time? A dominant narrative is one of jobs being taken over by robots and lost to automation, leaving swathes of the workforce without the right skills, stranded in unemployment.

Lists are published frequently, showing which jobs are future-proofed and those professions are most ‘at risk’. Invariably, there’s a common, negative thread – focusing on all that will be lost, and pondering how society might cope with hordes of people devoid of purpose and earning power. These studies often exist in isolation and rarely look at the effect of automation on job creation, failing to consider macro trends such as globalisation, ageing and other impacts on the economy.

Innovation foundation Nesta decided to approach the future of work from a slightly different tangent for its Future of Skills: Employment in 2030 report. It used a “novel and comprehensive method” to map how employment is likely to change, and the implications ...