Futurist Predicts That Upcoming Changes Will Eliminate Two Billion Jobs By 2030

In a recent talk at the TEDx session in Istanbul, futurist Thomas Frey introduced the audience to some major changes heading our way that will eliminate 2 billion jobs by 2030 as we know them today.  He illustrates his scenarios and also speaks to new careers that will grow during the same period.

Frey is the author of Communicating with the Future, is a well known speaker on future issues, and is Senior Futurist at the DaVinci Institute, a non-profit futurist think tank in Colorado.   At the TEDx conference, he presented his thoughts about driverless cars and trucks such as the ones we have talked about, as well as several other changes that will eliminate many job categories by 2030. In a blog he wrote last spring, he wrote:

“The future is changing quickly. In much the same way that being a skilled typesetter and movie projectionist have seen their jobs come and go, many of today’s most sought-after skills will begin to vanish.

“Generally we have little warning that our jobs are going away until it is too late. Many of us have spent years building our reputation and identity around the work that we do. We want to be known as the best in our profession. Yet, when industry changes occur, we have few anchor points left to latch onto. The noble profession we dedicated our lives to has quickly become little more than a relic of the past.”

TED, which stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate “ideas worth spreading”.  Originally created as a “one-off” event in 1984, it has spread into an ongoing set of provocative and informative events around the world.

Interesting to think about the possible changes to the construction industry in the same period of time.  Some have predicted a doubling of the amount of office and industrial space in the US by 2030.  I wonder whether we will still construct buildings in the same manner that we do today?  What do you think?