The Future of Work
Summary: Robots are going to take our jobs. Things are changing faster now than even during the industrial revolution. We have to start planning now because the future of work is changing rapidly.<br> This episode is not meant to scare you. It’s meant to prepare you for the changing employment landscape. Breaking the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luddite">looms</a> is not a long-term solution.<br> The Future of Work<br> We wrote an article on people’s biggest <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/six-financial-fears-and-how-to-overcome-them/">financial fears</a>, and job automation was one of them. And for a good reason. Oxford University released a <a href="https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf">report</a> detailing just how dire things are likely to become:<br> “According to our estimates, about 47 percent of total US employment is at risk. We further provide evidence that wages and educational attainment exhibit a strong negative relationship with an occupation’s probability of computerization.”<br> One out of every two people will be without work. Even at the height of the Great Depression, the percentage of unemployed Americans was “just” <a href="http://jobs.lovetoknow.com/Unemployment_During_the_Great_Depression">25%.</a>Imagine an economic scenario that is twice as bad as the Great Depression.<br> American Productivity<br> American workers are the <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jul/27/joe-biden/biden-almost-right-us-workers-most-productive/">third</a> most productive workforce in the world. In 1998, American workers put in 194 billion hours. Fifteen years later, in 2013, our output increased a whopping 42%, and we were not working more hours, it was still 194 billion per year.<br> The first decade of this century was the first in US history that there wasn’t job growth. There should have been ten million jobs created in that time, and there were zero. Why? Technology is now destroying more <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-robots-are-here-to-take-jobs-2015-6">jobs</a> than it creates.<br> <br> Who’s At Risk?<br> Almost half of the American workforce represents a wide array of careers. Is your’s on the chopping block? There are three significant sectors likely to be impacted first.<br> <br> Truck Drivers<br> Take a look at the map below. It shows the most common job by state and truck driver predominates. Even in states like California where you might think it’s tech related, nope. Truck drivers. There are<a href="http://www.alltrucking.com/faq/truck-drivers-in-the-usa/"> 3.5 million</a> truckers in the US and 8.7 million jobs related to the industry that don’t involve driving like mechanics and driving instructors. When automated trucking takes over, 6% of the American workforce will be impacted.<br> <br> How close are we to fully automated cars? Within <a href="https://www.citylab.com/transportation/2014/04/will-world-driverless-cars-be-heaven-or-hell/8784/">two decades</a>, there could be 100% autonomous penetration.<br> <br> The Auto Industry<br> The auto industry will be walloped by driverless cars. In the pretty near future, people won’t own cars. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/10/16/why-millennials-are-buying-fewer-cars-than-older-generations/#2b67806d7726">Young people</a> are already part of that trend. Don’t take our word for it. Those in the auto industry agree.<br> *GM says self-driving by 2018<br><br> *Ford says “true self-driving” by 2021<br><br> *Honda says “self-driving on the highway” by 2020<br><br> *Toyota says “self-driving on the highway” by 2020<br><br> *Renault-Nissan says 2020 for “Autonomous Cars in Urban Conditions” and 2025 for “truly driverless cars.”<br><br> *Volvo says “self-driving on the highway” by 2021<br><br>
