Many analysts agree that a lot of jobs will be lost to machines in the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” that is dawning. Very well. But there must be some jobs that will increase in number. Which will they be?

“Jobs and the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” an article on the World Economic Forum’s site, presents the views of some prominent futurists who include Erik Brynjolfsson (Director of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy), Saadia Zahidi (Head of Education, Gender and Work at the World Economic Forum) and Suzanne Fortier (Principal and Vice-Chancellor of McGill University).

Creative Jobs in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Jobs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution Which Will Last and Grow

When asked to recommend jobs that teenagers should consider as the Fourth Revolution begins, Erik Brynjolfsson said, “You want to do things machines can’t do well.” In his view, forward-thinking schools should focus on the following educational priorities:

  • Teaching children to be more creative. He believes that we live in a time when many schools are doing the opposite, effectively “stamping out” creativity.
  • Focusing on interpersonal skills, leadership, and teamwork. Only people, not machines, can have emotional intelligence.
  • Encouraging students to follow their passions. When students love what they are doing, they experience the drive to excel and learn. That “extra drive,” Brynjolfsson states, will be the most important asset in the “digital age.”

Jobs that Grew during the Last Industrial Revolution

This is just food for thought. But according to “Types of Jobs Children Had During the Industrial Revolution,” an article that Agnes Koolbreeze wrote for Career Trend, these are the jobs that many children were required to perform in the last industrial revolution . . .

  • Outdoor work, such as cleaning streets, scooping up horse manure, and working as street vendors.
  • Factory work, usually involving long hours in dangerous settings.
  • Coal mining, usually hazardous, that led to a variety of lung ailments and cancer.
  • Cleaning chimneys, a line of work for which children as young as age 5 were employed. Koolbreeze writes that this kind of employment was common in England. Children who performed those jobs were often injured and usually developed respiratory conditions.

With that perspective, it becomes clear that despite the threats that the Fourth Industrial Revolution might pose, conditions for young people are definitely improving.

Ready to see bigger issues about the relationship between college majors and career success? Participate in the National Career Pathway Study and you will be empowered with new information to make career and educational decisions that ultimately align with your interests, passions, and aptitudes. You will then have the information needed to plan your career for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

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