Future of work: How your job will change by 2030

LIKE your job? Don’t plan on it being the same in a few years. A report has analysed how much jobs are going to change — and no one is immune.

EVERY job in Australia will be changed and some wiped out in little over a decade, a new report has predicted.

Australians planning to stick around in the workforce beyond the next 13 years can plan on writing and communicating more, and carrying out repetitive tasks a lot less, thanks to automation.

The Foundation for Young Australians has today released their New Work Smarts report after analysing over 20 billion hours of work completed by 12 million Australian workers across 400 occupations to predict the skills and capabilities that will be needed in 2030.

The report predicts highlights implications for all sectors and workers, and no job is safe.

With today’s 15-year-olds likely to make 17 changes in employers across five different careers, according to the research, young people need to be prepared to learn on the job.

Researchers predict young workers will on average spend 30 per cent more time per week learning, 100 per cent more time at work solving problems, and more than 77 per cent more time using science, technology, maths and engineering (STEM) skills than the same jobs demand now.

How an accountant’s job is expected to change. Picture: New Work Smarts report/Foundation for Young Australians

Workers will need to become better problem solvers and communicators, having to use enterprise skills or soft skills for an average of 12 hours each week (up 90 per cent) and critical thinking for 15 hours each week (up 40 per cent).

Future employees will also need to become better more empathetic and persuasive, as well as better listeners, with these skills being needed 17 per cent more than they are today in 2030, the report says.

Managers are also predicted to become less important, with workers predicted to become more independent and flexible.

“As people work more flexibly and independently, including through digital work platforms, they will nee to rely less on being managed or told what to do,” the report said.

“On average, they will work without a manager for three hours more a week, receive one hour less instruction and rely two hours less on organisational co-ordination with colleagues and superiors.”

Some skills will need to be used in billions more hours of work across the economy. Picture: New Work Smarts report/Foundation for Young Australians

While no job is safe from change, the report drew specific examples of how some jobs would be affected.

A pharmacy assistant, for example, is expected to spend substantially more time on digital tasks in 2030, such as updating the business website, developing an online sales shopping app, and analysing sales data. New technology will likely cut the time these workers spend on store admin like stocktaking and ordering from 22 hours a week in 2006 to six hours a week in 2030.

Teachers are expected to be given more time to interact with student, up from 29 hours in 2006 to 33 hours in 2030, and can look forward to spending less time grading. The tedious task is expected to drop from five hours in 2006 to one hour in 2030.

Teachers will also spend 10 more hours “facilitating self-directed learning” in 2030, according to the report.

The report emphasises “enterprise” and communication skills, which are portable across jobs and industries, will be most important for future workers who need to be adaptable as career paths change.

Doctors will be expected to use more ‘enterprise skills’. Picture: New Work Smarts report/Foundation for Young Australians

The foundation has called for the education system to take a long hard look at the results.

FYA chief executive Jan Owen said at the moment, educators were teaching the wrong skills for the future.

“The way our education system currently measures and understands what it means to be work smart will not equip them with the required skills or to become lifelong learners,” Ms Owens said.

“By 2030, Australia’s current primary school students will be close to finishing their school education and our high schoolers will be entering the workforce.

“To prepare them we must urgently transform our traditional education and training approaches and institutions into immersive learning partners.”