Future of Work & Gen Z
Jessica Wahba, O/TG Intern
Machines are becoming more threatening to our future jobs as they move towards performing non-routine tasks like driving a car and making a medical diagnosis. But technology is not an evil monster coming for our jobs - the same tech replacing humans is also creating new jobs and demanding new levels of skills, pushing human ingenuity to new levels.
What does this mean for Gen Z?
Gen Z, which I am part of, is commonly characterized by those born from 1995 to 2015, and is currently entering the workforce. We are in the middle of a transitional phase - most of us have already missed out on the changes being implemented in the school systems. We did not have the option to enroll in a Comp Sci class in high school, which is now becoming a norm. Instead we are stuck learning about outdated software like Microsoft Access (my Information Systems professor spent ten minutes of every lecture explaining to us that very few organizations use MS Access, that we are better off investing our time in learning things like Google Analytics, and how for the past two years he has been trying to get rid of this requirement). Some schools and universities are trying change that by implementing curriculums that are up to date, however by the time we graduate, the things we learn are more likely to be outdated and irrelevant.
With that being said, I believe that Gen Z are at an advantage. We still have the opportunity to avoid degrees that are at a high risk of automation. But for us to do that, we need to be conscious of the changing world around us. I’m sure that a good number of students globally do not know that it is estimated that by 2030 up to one-third of workers in developed economies may be displaced due to technology. This is a conversation that I personally believe that teachers should be having with their students early on so they can be aware of and prepare for the fact that their field of choice may not exist in 10 years.
More than 100 years ago machines took over 95% of the farming jobs in the U.S. Farm states faced mass unemployment as an entire generation was no longer needed in the agricultural sector. As a result, the U.S. invested in its educational institutions. It required students to remain in school until the age of 16 to better prepare for the industrial jobs. Today, the increase in automation of middle skill jobs is demanding that students continue their education past their undergraduate degrees in order to secure a job. And as they secure this job, they must be able to keep up with technological changes in order to retain this job.
For university students like me who are already pursuing a degree it is more tricky. The big dilemma for us is “will my degree be relevant in 10 years?”. There is no easy answer, but there are ways to prepare. Our generation is the first true digital native generation to enter the workforce. We are comfortable with technology and are always keeping up with the latest gadgets and we can leverage that by learning to work with new technology. Humans can’t compete with machines on a host of levels, but we can work alongside them and excel at tasks that machines aren’t capable of.
For me this is the reassuring glimpse of hope that we need. It is impossible to look at the future and know the exact jobs that will be created, but we can prepare our current students by making them more skilled and capable of adapting. This tech revolution is different from the the past, but we always find a way to make it work.
Jessica interned at O/TG 2018, is a student at Boston University Questrom School of Business and is an avid global traveller currently residing in France on a university exchange.