More on the Jobs Picture

Zero Hedge has a guest post that is really an advertisement for a report on what skills will be in demand in the future.  They don't get around to telling you what skills you'll need in the ad, but they do explain what the challenges are that will be facing future workforces.

The challenges they list begin with automation, which we were just discussing ourselves, and go on from there.  See what you think.

3 comments:

BillT said...

Every society dictates the skills which will be in demand. Merely figure out what our society will be like in five, ten, or fifteen years, and you'll have the answer to "what field should I enter in order to find gainful employment?"

That said, China is currently recruiting -- airline pilots.

Texan99 said...

I found one of the comments threads interesting. Someone suggested that if employers needed skills that applicants didn't have, they ought to be offering training. Someone else objected that companies didn't like giving training without an assurance that the trained employee wouldn't immediately jump ship for the highest bidder.

It seems that employers could get away with paying a low rate during training, but they'll have to bump up the pay for the newly trained employee enough to persuade him not to jump ship. It also seems that employers are essentially thinking through the need to run tuition-based schools of their own. I suppose it comes back to the question why we can't teach schoolkids something more useful in our traditional schools.

Joseph W. said...

Nothing about the free portion makes me think the author's views in the "pay" part would have value.

The talk of "unproductive speculation" is a red flag to me - speculation does produce value, though it doesn't directly produce physical goods.

The rest reads more like a conspiracy theory than an economic analysis. Yep, "The Central State has been co-opted by concentrations of private wealth and power." But after the revolution there'll be no more bosses, no more limos, no more peaches and cream! (Or however Fritz the Cat put it.)

I haven't time at the moment to check his factual assertions - but this one -

Financialization has been driven by low interest rates and abundant credit for speculation while credit for capital investment is restricted.

- has a very strange feel. Me, if I wanted something like that to be taken seriously, I'd link to something that supported it.