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Young workers ‘vulnerable’ in the digital age

Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently ridiculed his own party's policy when speaking about offering coding to school students. Answering a question from the Opposition, he joked that teaching coding would force 11-year-old's into work. Despite his Government investing $3.5m into teaching it. Photo: AAP

Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently ridiculed his own party's policy when speaking about offering coding to school students. Answering a question from the Opposition, he joked that teaching coding would force 11-year-old's into work. Despite his Government investing $3.5m into teaching it. Photo: AAP

‘Robot counsellor’ and ‘digital currency advisor’ are predicted to be among the jobs of the future in a workforce characterised by the digital age.

But as futuristic job titles rise, entry-level roles for young people are also disappearing, a new study from the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) has outlined, with changing conditions expected to see a significant shift in the way young people work in the years ahead.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has predicted Australia’s ageing population will pose challenges in the areas of health and housing, and see a drop in the taxpaying population, among an increase in the demand for skilled labour.

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But the FYA study suggests the upcoming challenges for young people entering the workforce will be “the most significant disruption in the world of work since the industrial revolution”.

“We have predicted a 15-year-old today could expect to have 17 different jobs in five different industries in their future career, that pretty much spells out that is a very different world of work to their parents and grandparents,” FYA CEO Jan Owens said.

Although that seems a daunting prospect to prepare for, it is not an impossibility.

Opportunity and risk

Young people joining the workforce today are likely to work in an incredibly different climate to their predecessors.

Robot counsellor could be a job of the future. Photo: Shutterstock

Robot counsellor could be a job of the future. Photo: Shutterstock

The FYA report describes “ever-smarter machines” with the ability to take over human tasks and unprecedented advances in communications technology will revolutionise the way people relate to each other in the global workplace.

This will provide both opportunity and risk for young Australians.

On one hand, barriers to entrepreneurship are falling and new technologies are opening the door to flexibility in how and where people work – in 2013, about one in 12 people were working from home.

But growing unemployment, income inequality and increased employment insecurity are expected to present significant challenges.

“Over 50 per cent of jobs in five years’ time are going to require significant digital skills,” Ms Owens said.

“Digital is going to be key – it is going to be the second language of every child in the world.

“There are some jobs that will absolutely, definitely go, we will need to help young people to get the skills to create their own jobs, to actually become entrepreneurs in their own right and start their own businesses.”

Be prepared

Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently ridiculed his own party's policy when speaking about offering coding to school students. Answering a question from the Opposition, he joked that teaching coding would force 11-year-old's into work. Despite his Government investing $3.5m into teaching it. Photo: AAP

Prime Minister Tony Abbott recently ridiculed his own party’s policy when speaking about offering coding to school students. Answering a question from the Opposition, he joked that teaching coding would force 11-year-old’s into work – despite his Government already having invested $3.5m into teaching it. Photo: AAP

There is no need to be put off by the prospect of change; in fact Ms Owens believes it should be embraced.

“Think of your career as non-linear, think of your career as an opportunity to do an enormous range of different jobs in different industries, which sometimes will be working for yourself, sometimes in collaboration with others, sometimes working for others,” Ms Owens said.

“Ensure you have the core capabilities and a platform of these enterprising skills and enough digital literacy that you can take those into any context.”

According to a report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, about 44 per cent of Australia’s workforce are at risk from digital disruption.

But even in industries likely to face a decline in jobs due to automation, there are opportunities to take these skills into the digital age.

“There is nothing wrong with getting a law degree as long as you have got law and tech,” Ms Owens said.

“If you undertake that area of work where there are going to be less jobs, marry it with a new skill or a new capability that are going to take you to a new area.”

So rather than avoiding the digital age, welcome it – counselling robots and their human companions may not be as far away as it seems.

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