Discerning your career path II. What will the labour market look like in the future?

We live in times of constant and rapid change. There are three elements that cause unemployment:

• Outsourcing. This is the contracting out of a business process to a third party.
  For example, many companies (Dell, AT&T Wireless) have closed their customer service departments which have been replaced by customer service centres that are located in other countries with significantly lower labour costs than in developed countries (India, Pakistan, Philippines, etc.). This does not only involve job losses. Typically, subcontracting firms offer low pay, no job security, and no career development opportunities, even if they are located in the same country.
• Automation is the use of robots or computerized systems to control machines or perform industrial processes. Machines and robots do not receive wages, pensions, breaks, or insurance benefits, don’t ask for raises; they don’t get sick and can work all day and night, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, and ensure the highest quality.

Automatization and artificial intelligence are taking us to the brink of another historic leap into the unknown. Robotics, automation, and artificial intelligence will have an unprecedented disruptive impact on the future job market in particular and economy and society in general.

They excel in routine, dangerous, and monotonous tasks: transportation, administration, industrial manufacture, etc. Admittedly, automation creates new jobs, but not as many as it destroys. The new posts are often more precarious and poorly paid.

• Cloud computing provides a convenient way of accessing computing services and virtualized hardware resources (Google Apps, Dropbox, Amazon Web Services, etc.). It helps companies to reduce costs, be more productive and efficient.

  In summary, the job outlook is very complicated. Which fields/sectors are going to be least affected by these factors? For instance, good choices for your career are skilled jobs which require relatively high professional qualification, especially in programming, robotics, and electronics. The job market is likely to demand curious, innovative, and creative people, that have skills in social interaction, as well as, people that can assist the elderly in their everyday life (doctors, nurses, caregivers, etc.).