Research shows every 2nd job might disappear within 2035

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Good paper on this here: http://www.futuretech.ox.ac.uk/sites/futuretech.ox.ac.uk/files/The_Future_of_Employment_OMS_Working_Paper_1.pdf


It is fairly daunting. I'm no Luddite, there is little reason to oppose the mechanisation of labour (as voiced by Queen Victoria in the above paper) , but it is fairly weird to consider that now-ubiquitous jobs may be as anachronistic as blacksmithing.

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Work for much of human civilisation has been an integral part of someone's identity. You meet someone new, you ask them what they do, they respond "I'm a ________ ". A good proportion of our surnames (including my own) are a reflection of our ancestor's jobs. The whole of civilisation is built on the division of labour in the form of careers. And now we have to recognise that the idea we've cherished so long - that of "being employed in order to make a living" - is impossible to keep up.

I hope I don't sound like I'm talking garbage here, I'm slightly off.

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I don't really know how Chinese surnames work. Perhaps it's a European thing, with the ubiquitous Smith, being the obvious example (as well as Shepherd, Miller, Thatcher, Baker etc. )

"freelancing may become popular, where individuals service high-income customers"

That's what I'm thinking. I doubt high-end elite restaurants in London will replace their servers with robots, but the local cheapo chain restaurant where I do part-time work would probably replace me and most of its staff if it could. The elite will still be chauffeured by human drivers; but public transport drivers and cargo movers will probably be gone. The supply of jobs that need doing are drying up, and what remains is becoming so specialised and technological that not everyone really has the capacity to do them. It's especially clear that part-time non-training-intensive work will be worst hit.

That isn't to say we reject progress a la Cassius. But instead the government should find a way to soften the blow.

(I do agree some of the jobs listed in the paper were sort of fishy)