Will Your Job Exist in Twenty Years?
Technological advances and evolving job markets mean that within a decade many jobs will almost vanish while entirely new occupations will emerge. In twenty years, the job market will be completely different. So what is the future of your job, and in which fields should you consider specializing?
The job market is changing.
In the nineteenth century, many agricultural jobs disappeared thanks to the technological innovations of that time, leading to the industrial revolution. In the twentieth century, industrial jobs declined dramatically due to increasingly sophisticated machines. Now, in the twenty-first century, it is the turn of the white-collar workers. If you have always believed that your profession belongs both to the present and the future, it might be time to reconsider.
"Some of the hottest jobs today will not exist at all by 2025," says Graeme Codrington, a futurist at 'Tomorrow Today.' "Machines are going to replace many white-collar jobs. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be other jobs. History shows that every time the job market destroys old jobs, it creates new ones."
So, which professions are likely to disappear soon? The list is not short.
On the lower end of the earning spectrum, telemarketers and cashiers are at serious risk of extinction. Nowadays, robots are increasingly replacing them. And why not? A robot can indeed call us to provide information about a product, service, or organization. The need to stop at a cashier to pay is becoming less and less relevant for a generation that shops online: soon, stores will boast automatic payment stations. Typists will also vanish from the job market: apart from the fact that most people can now type at a decent pace, advancements in voice recognition software mean that soon there will be no need for a typist to create a record; voice recognition software will interpret what is said and document it.
![(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)]()
(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)
But these jobs are just the tip of the iceberg. The last time you traveled abroad, how did you book your flight tickets? Chances are you purchased them directly online. This is a global trend so strong that, according to all forecasts, travel agents will be as rare in about a decade as blacksmiths are now. With all travel information at our fingertips, we no longer need specialists to handle all the logistical arrangements.
Or take postal workers, for example. Yes, modern post offices offer numerous services besides mail, and it's unlikely that the postal service will completely disappear over the next decade. However, mail carriers will also become very rare, as will other postal service workers.
Not only post offices will become a rare sight. Remember how many photo shops there were in our childhood? Even today, their number is significantly smaller, and this trend will continue. Professional and creative photographers will always have a significant place, but photo developers? They are not really needed in the digital camera age. Some photo shops will survive by offering specialized graphic services, but there is no doubt that most workers in the field will have to find other employment.
![(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)]()
(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)
Even degree-holding academics are not immune to changes in the job market. Do you think your investment advisor and lawyer are on a smooth sail to retirement? Not so sure. Private bankers and investment advisors, experts say, will be replaced within a few years by advanced algorithms capable of calculating the odds and risks of every investment and providing comprehensive and organized information. Criminal lawyers might always be around, but any lawyer whose main occupation is providing legal information and drafting legal documents might find it harder to find employment. Accountants, appraisers, consulting engineers, and even librarians might find themselves in the same boat: any profession primarily involving information provision will pass into the hands of computers with developed artificial intelligence.
But not only old professions are on the risk list. Know the title: 'Social Media Manager'? It is also expected to disappear, just a few years after making an appearance. The current generation has grown up with social media, it is embedded in all aspects of life. Once we reach a period where most employees are experts in using social media—there will no longer be a real reason to pay social media managers whose sole task is this. Social media managers thrived in an era where most managers understood the importance of the internet but did not really know how to use it. In ten years, such managers will be very rare. In twenty years, they will not exist at all.
What new jobs will exist, then, in the future job market? While it is impossible to foresee every development in the job market with maximum accuracy, there are promising hints in several directions.
Firstly, if you have always wanted to work with the elderly, in a decade or two you will have plenty of employment—and it will be more profitable than ever. The Western world is aging, and with longer life expectancy, there will be a need for a multitude of professionals capable of not only physically caring for the elderly but also addressing their social and psychological needs.
![(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)]()
(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)
Health professions will also thrive—in both old and new forms. While all the newfound elderly will support many physicians, there will be a need for remote healthcare providers to ease the load on the medical system. This will include developers of apps and technologies enabling home monitoring of various health metrics, as well as remote medical advisors who will consult patients and maintain virtual relationships with them.
If you are a fan of manual labor—the coming decades will have something to offer you as well. In the industrial world, admittedly, robots will replace most workers, but at home, there will still be a need for a human touch. In twenty years, futurists predict, most of us will live in smart homes, where all devices are connected to the internet. These homes will require expert installers who will handle these delicate systems, install them, and even repair them if necessary.
In agriculture, a unique niche will also open up for you. As health awareness is on the rise, the demand for 'boutique farmers' growing small but high-quality quantities of certain foods, often in urban areas, is expected to increase. If this is your area of interest, perhaps it's time to invest in a house with a large garden.
Our work style will also change. By 2025, it's likely that a quarter of the Western workforce will work 'on demand'—in other words, freelance. What has been proven viable until now mainly in artistic fields like writing or acting will become the recommended work method in many areas. Most professors, for example, will work this way, offering courses on demand, live and online. Companies will hire professionals like programmers and engineers according to the specific needs of a project. This working method will create a new profession: corporate casting director. Just like a casting director in acting, who assembles the best.available acting team for a play or film, a professional casting director will recruit the best professionals for the business projects they are planning.
Finally, of course, advanced technology will create a plethora of new jobs that today seem on the brink of science fiction. 'Virtual reality experience designers' will be in great demand. Virtual reality will be a distinct part of our lives in twenty years: most of our offices will be virtual, as will many events we participate in. Specialists who creatively design these experiences will earn well. Another field expected to become popular is design and planning for 3D printing: a technology that already exists and is expected to become an integral part of our lives within ten years.
In the nineteenth century, many agricultural jobs disappeared thanks to the technological innovations of that time, leading to the industrial revolution. In the twentieth century, industrial jobs declined dramatically due to increasingly sophisticated machines. Now, in the twenty-first century, it is the turn of the white-collar workers. If you have always believed that your profession belongs both to the present and the future, it might be time to reconsider.
"Some of the hottest jobs today will not exist at all by 2025," says Graeme Codrington, a futurist at 'Tomorrow Today.' "Machines are going to replace many white-collar jobs. But that doesn’t mean there won’t be other jobs. History shows that every time the job market destroys old jobs, it creates new ones."
So, which professions are likely to disappear soon? The list is not short.
On the lower end of the earning spectrum, telemarketers and cashiers are at serious risk of extinction. Nowadays, robots are increasingly replacing them. And why not? A robot can indeed call us to provide information about a product, service, or organization. The need to stop at a cashier to pay is becoming less and less relevant for a generation that shops online: soon, stores will boast automatic payment stations. Typists will also vanish from the job market: apart from the fact that most people can now type at a decent pace, advancements in voice recognition software mean that soon there will be no need for a typist to create a record; voice recognition software will interpret what is said and document it.
(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)But these jobs are just the tip of the iceberg. The last time you traveled abroad, how did you book your flight tickets? Chances are you purchased them directly online. This is a global trend so strong that, according to all forecasts, travel agents will be as rare in about a decade as blacksmiths are now. With all travel information at our fingertips, we no longer need specialists to handle all the logistical arrangements.
Or take postal workers, for example. Yes, modern post offices offer numerous services besides mail, and it's unlikely that the postal service will completely disappear over the next decade. However, mail carriers will also become very rare, as will other postal service workers.
Not only post offices will become a rare sight. Remember how many photo shops there were in our childhood? Even today, their number is significantly smaller, and this trend will continue. Professional and creative photographers will always have a significant place, but photo developers? They are not really needed in the digital camera age. Some photo shops will survive by offering specialized graphic services, but there is no doubt that most workers in the field will have to find other employment.
(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)Even degree-holding academics are not immune to changes in the job market. Do you think your investment advisor and lawyer are on a smooth sail to retirement? Not so sure. Private bankers and investment advisors, experts say, will be replaced within a few years by advanced algorithms capable of calculating the odds and risks of every investment and providing comprehensive and organized information. Criminal lawyers might always be around, but any lawyer whose main occupation is providing legal information and drafting legal documents might find it harder to find employment. Accountants, appraisers, consulting engineers, and even librarians might find themselves in the same boat: any profession primarily involving information provision will pass into the hands of computers with developed artificial intelligence.
But not only old professions are on the risk list. Know the title: 'Social Media Manager'? It is also expected to disappear, just a few years after making an appearance. The current generation has grown up with social media, it is embedded in all aspects of life. Once we reach a period where most employees are experts in using social media—there will no longer be a real reason to pay social media managers whose sole task is this. Social media managers thrived in an era where most managers understood the importance of the internet but did not really know how to use it. In ten years, such managers will be very rare. In twenty years, they will not exist at all.
What new jobs will exist, then, in the future job market? While it is impossible to foresee every development in the job market with maximum accuracy, there are promising hints in several directions.
Firstly, if you have always wanted to work with the elderly, in a decade or two you will have plenty of employment—and it will be more profitable than ever. The Western world is aging, and with longer life expectancy, there will be a need for a multitude of professionals capable of not only physically caring for the elderly but also addressing their social and psychological needs.
(Photo Illustration: shutterstock)Health professions will also thrive—in both old and new forms. While all the newfound elderly will support many physicians, there will be a need for remote healthcare providers to ease the load on the medical system. This will include developers of apps and technologies enabling home monitoring of various health metrics, as well as remote medical advisors who will consult patients and maintain virtual relationships with them.
If you are a fan of manual labor—the coming decades will have something to offer you as well. In the industrial world, admittedly, robots will replace most workers, but at home, there will still be a need for a human touch. In twenty years, futurists predict, most of us will live in smart homes, where all devices are connected to the internet. These homes will require expert installers who will handle these delicate systems, install them, and even repair them if necessary.
In agriculture, a unique niche will also open up for you. As health awareness is on the rise, the demand for 'boutique farmers' growing small but high-quality quantities of certain foods, often in urban areas, is expected to increase. If this is your area of interest, perhaps it's time to invest in a house with a large garden.
Our work style will also change. By 2025, it's likely that a quarter of the Western workforce will work 'on demand'—in other words, freelance. What has been proven viable until now mainly in artistic fields like writing or acting will become the recommended work method in many areas. Most professors, for example, will work this way, offering courses on demand, live and online. Companies will hire professionals like programmers and engineers according to the specific needs of a project. This working method will create a new profession: corporate casting director. Just like a casting director in acting, who assembles the best.available acting team for a play or film, a professional casting director will recruit the best professionals for the business projects they are planning.
Finally, of course, advanced technology will create a plethora of new jobs that today seem on the brink of science fiction. 'Virtual reality experience designers' will be in great demand. Virtual reality will be a distinct part of our lives in twenty years: most of our offices will be virtual, as will many events we participate in. Specialists who creatively design these experiences will earn well. Another field expected to become popular is design and planning for 3D printing: a technology that already exists and is expected to become an integral part of our lives within ten years.
