This generation of children will work until they’re 100 and work 40 jobs, warns futurologist Rohit Talwar at headteachers’ conference
Thought millennials were changing the workplace? They're nothing compared to today's generation of children, who will have careers that are almost unrecognisable compared with the current workforce, a futurologist has warned.
Rohit Talwar, the founder of trend researcher Fast Future, told a headteachers' conference in St Andrews yesterday that kids today will have "portfolio careers" that could span 40 jobs and 10 different careers.
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And the world of work is likely to look very different to what's around now: although between 30 per cent and 80 per cent of jobs that exist now will disappear in the next 10 to 20 years, making money out of the sharing economy could become a more accepted way to generate cash.
“You might be driving [an] Uber part of the day, renting out your spare bedroom on Airbnb, renting out space in your closet, doing delivery for Amazon or renting out your driveway," he said.
But such freedom comes with a cost: while Talwar said he expects people to live to the ripe old age of 120, he added that they should expect to work until they are 100.
And he warned that educators must stay abreast of changes to how people work so children develop the skills they'll need for the future.
“We need to start thinking about these things, we need to start thinking about the kinds of skills we’ll need to help people stay employable.