Meet the workers of the future
In this four-part series, we highlight job sectors that are expected to deliver the biggest employment growth for Australia’s future workforce.
Do you know which jobs will deliver the biggest employment growth 15 years from today?
More importantly, what can you learn about these jobs of the future to make better and more informed work choices in the present?
A new report by noted demographer Bernard Salt, commissioned by nbn, reveals the distinct skill sets that represent Australia’s future jobs in the digital age.
The Super Connected Jobs report highlights the sectors to watch out for and notes that aged care and knowledge workers are expected to experience continued growth.
Jobs such as beauty therapists and personal trainers are set to witness significant growth and transformation, and 'geeky' jobs such as computer programmers and tech start-ups will become less niche and more mainstream.
So who are the workers of the future? Here are five key categories they belong in:
Highly-skilled knowledge workers will continue to experience job growth.
1. The Care Givers
This category includes support services such as aged care, social workers as well as personal services like beauty therapists, nannies and fitness instructors.
A future Care Giver fitness instructor will pitch for work using an uber-like app and conduct group workouts via HD video-conferencing.
2. The Technocrats
Technocrats are knowledge-workers who are highly skilled, highly trained and well-remunerated. The spectrum of jobs includes electrical engineers, medical researchers and business entrepreneurs.
A future Technocrat could conduct an international collaboration via high speed broadband, to collaborate, develop and commercialise a research project.
3. The Specialist Professions
This category includes knowledge workers who maintain systems and deliver business outcomes. Jobs include accountants, dentists, urban planners and teachers.
A future Specialist Professional such as a doctor will conduct more of their work remotely and use technology to diagnose and treat patients.
4. The Doers
These are skilled jobs for those who ‘do’, such as plumbers, carpenters and electricians. No matter how much we automate, there will still be a requirement for waiters in the future.
A future Doer will use technology to create new ways of communicating with clients, ordering materials, allocating work and processing payment.
5. The Creatives
This group of workers is driven by what pleases as opposed to what delivers the best return on effort.
Stylists, social media engineers, photographers and yoga instructors are all Creative jobs that, in the future, will draw on access to high speed broadband for inspiration, instant connections with peers and clients and hassle-free large data transfers.
In part two of this series, we meet Bernard Salt - noted demographer and the developer of this report - for his view on jobs of the future. Part two will be published Monday, September 14.
