What will the workforce look like in 2030?

The Foundation for Young Australians has released their latest report from the New Work Order research series. Following up on their piece concerning job clusters and transferrable skills, the most recent addition is The New Work Smarts: Thriving in the New Work Order. It details how virtually every job in the world will be altered due to automation and globalisation by 2030.

There are multiple elements that will lead to this shift. Firstly, a reduction in the need for workers to perform routine, manual tasks, will decrease demand for these types of employee. In contrast, the ability to think creatively and strategically solve problems will be highly-valued, as will interpersonal skills.

A major aspect of the report is centred on three concepts:

Smart learning — continuous on-the-job learning

Smart thinking — using enterprise, problem solving and communication skills

Smart doing — adopting a flexible attitude towards work and how tasks are accomplished

With all these changes being forecast, the current workforce will need to prepare for the future job market by updating their current skillsets. The largest predicted increase in accumulated time spent using different skills in 2030 are: problem solving (4.0 billion hours), critical thinking (3.8b), learning and science and mathematics (3.0b) and written communications (2.6b).

To find out more about new work smarts, check out the report here.