#Work2050 | 4BC
We will increase our global population from 7 billion today to 9 billion in 2050, Australia will move from 23.7 today to 40 million in 2050 and Brisbane from 2.2 million today to 4.2 million in 2050, there are huge implications in these population increases and one of them is the notion of work.
In a world that seems to be shedding jobs, where technology is evolving the way we work away from routine jobs to more specialised tasks and with industries literally disappearing before our eyes, how will we employ today’s people let alone tomorrow’s workforce.
Work of course puts food on tables, roofs over people heads, but for most of us it does much more, it provides a sense of well being, dignity, self worth and purpose.
This big issue was the focus of this weeks regular chat with 4BC’s Clare Blake as we explored the changing workforce away from a 9-5 Monday to Friday post industrial norm to a work where, when and how is appropriate model. In this new work frontier many of us will have 6 careers and 14 jobs, work into our 80’s based on a lifespan of 120 and have a work portfolio rather than a job.
This work portfolio might see us with a range of concurrent income producing activities mixed in with other hobbies and secondary skilled jobs. It may see some of these coming from providing services and tasks through digital marketplaces which may now include ebay, airtasker, fiverr, airbnb, etsy and maybe seeking funds or resources for more audacious builds or roll outs from crowdfunding sites like pozible, kickstarter and indiegogo.
Listeners rang in to voice their concern about our current immigration adding to this burden but this to me is not the reason for the concern, it just adds to it and this conversation catapulted us into looking at where we’re going to house this growing population, whether our current infrastructure will cope with this growth and my thoughts on the need to grow satellite villages that connect our larger cities to others, using fast transport, great roads, well serviced with utilities and infrastructure and where work is available or undertaken locally.
Lots in this weeks chat, so listen in now (17 minutes) and then share your thoughts on Jobs 2050
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What structural changes to work does the 2050 horizon reveal that shorter planning horizons miss?
The 2050 horizon reveals structural changes that are invisible on a 3-5 year planning horizon: the full career-length implications of today’s young workers entering a labour market that will be transformed multiple times by technology advancement during their working lives — requiring not one career transition but potentially four or five; the demographic reality that people working in 2050 will be doing so in a workforce that spans six decades of age (with workers in their 20s working alongside workers in their 80s as longevity extends working lives); the infrastructure and energy transition creating entirely new industry categories that do not yet fully exist; and the possibility that several of the major occupational categories of today (routine knowledge work, routine physical work, parts of professional services) will look as different from their current forms as today’s work looks from work in 1985.
Q: What capabilities developed today are most likely to remain valuable in 2050?
The capabilities most likely to remain valuable in 2050 are those that compound with time and that technology consistently augments rather than replaces: deep domain expertise that provides the contextual judgment to assess what AI systems produce rather than to produce what AI systems produce; relationship and trust intelligence that enables humans to navigate the social dimensions of complex situations — leadership, negotiation, care, and conflict resolution; creative and conceptual synthesis that generates novel framings and solutions to problems that have not been previously categorised; and ethical reasoning that addresses the value questions that arise in every consequential decision. The common thread is that these capabilities become more valuable as the technology environment around them advances — they are complements to AI rather than substitutes.
Q: How should organisations think about investing in people given the uncertainty of the 2050 work landscape?
Organisations facing 2050 work uncertainty should invest in human capability development that is robust across multiple scenarios rather than optimised for a single predicted future: learning agility — the capability to learn new skills effectively throughout a career — is more valuable than any specific skill set, because it enables the transitions that will be required; organisational cultures that value and reward continuous learning rather than static credentialing create the conditions for workforce adaptation; and investments in the human dimensions of work (judgment, relationship, creativity, ethics) that are most durable are more reliable than investments in technical skills that may be automated within the planning horizon. The worst investment is in training for specific technical skills that are on the automation trajectory — the second-worst is in nothing, on the assumption that the future is too uncertain to invest in.
Q: How can I book Morris Misel for a future of work, workforce strategy, or 2050 horizon keynote?
Contact the booking team at morrismisel.com/event-organisers.
We will increase our global population from 7 billion today to 9 billion in 2050, Australia will move from 23.7 today to 40 million in 2050 and Brisbane from 2.2 million today to 4.2 million in 2050, there are huge implications in these population increases and one of them is the.
The shift around #Work2050 is not purely structural. It changes what capabilities organisations value, how people find meaning in their roles, and what conditions make good work possible. Leaders who understand this early retain the talent they need and build cultures that attract it.
The most important question is not whether #Work2050 will matter, but how quickly it will matter in your specific context. Leaders benefit most from mapping the ripple effects early — not just the direct impact but the second and third-order consequences that arrive later and hit harder. That is the practical work of foresight.
