As the world adapts to the ‘new normal’ and we prepare for life after COVID-19, a new report from ING and Thinque explores how Australians can adapt and prepare for the digital workforce of tomorrow. New research reveals one in three (35%) Australians will be looking for a new job after COVID-19, whilst 32% expect jobs to be very hard to come by as a result of the crisis. Concern about what the future has in store also means a quarter (23%) are fearful or anxious about future job opportunities and unsure they have the right skills. What’s more, some Aussies are rethinking their career choices, with 1 in 10 (12%) considering jobs in essential services. Check out this Channel 7 interview based on the findings in this futurist trend report.
The report reveals how COVID-19 has accelerated digital technology and uncovers growing industries and emerging jobs needed in the not-so-distant future.
As predicted by Sörman-Nilsson, the industries of the future include BioTech, Healthcare, Renewable Energy, EdTech, Robotics and Cyber Security, with a focus on combining emotional intelligence and creativity with the digital world.
ING Head of Retail Melanie Evans said, “It’s understandable COVID-19 has spurred an uncertainty about what the future holds. Whilst some jobs might become redundant, from our report it’s encouraging to see the emerging jobs that will reshape our economy.”
Sydney-based futurist Anders Sörman-Nilsson said, “COVID-19 has accelerated the future of work and it’s likely a decade’s worth of tech advancement will be compressed into 2020.
As a result, Aussies are eager to up-skill and move with the digi-times.” “Pandemics have a history of spawning cultural and labour transformation. Just as the Spanish Flu and Black Plague shifted ways of working, COVID-19 will lead to an even closer relationship with technology, with the rise of machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics. This ‘2nd Renaissance’, as I like to call it, will shape a new future powered by a combination of technology and human ingenuity. The secret to the workforce and leaders of tomorrow will be combining our knowledge of STEM with creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation, emotional intelligence and empathy.”