At the start of the 20th Century, the majority of Americans were farmers, today that number is less than 2%.We've created new jobs. Most jobs that exist today didn't exist 100 years ago. In fact, in 1910 service jobs and agriculture together accounted for 70% of the US labor market. Today, service jobs account for almost 80% of jobs with industry making up the remaining 20%.
Image Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
In the past 10 years alone, we’ve seen the advent of new jobs which are now widespread, including app developer, social media manager, cloud computing specialist, data scientist, sustainability manager and YouTube content creator, amongst a plethora of other roles.
A recent World Economic Forum report has built on this and found that 65% of children entering primary school today will end up working in completely new job types that don’t exist yet. This aligns with what Kevin Kelly, founder of Wired Magazine, told me in a recent chat for the Future Squared podcast in which he reiterated that by the end of the Century, 70% of today’s jobs will be replaced. Optimists like X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis point towards the past as a predictor of the future insofar as the creation of new jobs go. The idea is that technology continually creates new and higher functioning jobs than it displaces, ultimately benefiting humanity.
This has been the case so far.
However, US labor market statistics in the 21st Century paint a different picture.
Image Source: US Bureau of Labor Statistics
The WorkFlow podcast is hosted by Steve Glaveski with a mission to help you unlock your potential to do more great work in far less time, whether you're working as part of a team or flying solo, and to set you up for a richer life.
To help you avoid stepping into these all too common pitfalls, we’ve reflected on our five years as an organization working on corporate innovation programs across the globe, and have prepared 100 DOs and DON’Ts.