The Crazy Future of the Work World

It's a bit sad that this 4-year-old TED talk by Mr. McAfee is still one of the best takes on where the work world is heading and the challenges we all face because of these changes.

Here are some facts about what's happening now and in the future:

According to the August 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics info, there are 238, 331, 000 Americans (who are not "institutionalized") over the age of 16.  35.6% of these people are not working.  This includes retired people and other categories in addition to people unable to find work.

There are 153,439,000 people working in the U.S.

The teen unemployment rate is 13.9%

 7.1 million people are officially unemployed, and 448,000 more are considered "discouraged workers."

No one really has any idea how many underemployed people there are in the U.S., though an estimate of 30 million has been tossed around a lot.

6% of current jobs are projected to be replaced by new technology by 2021.  That's about 9,206,340 more people unemployed in the next five years.

47% of jobs are projected to be replaced by robotics, artificial intelligence, and other new tech in the next 20 years.  To put that in perspective, if you have a toddler right now, there will be about 72,163,330 LESS jobs when they graduate college than there are right now.  Really. 

 This trend is causing many highly intelligent people to push the idea of a "guaranteed minimum income" for every person, paid for by the government.  Think we can get the Republicans and Democrats to agree on that one in the next few years?  Me neither.

As most of my Facebook friends know, I've been struggling to find a viable way to make a living since I came to North Carolina in November 2008.  I've stood in lines of 2,500 people to hand a resume' to be added to a huge stack of resume's by people much more qualified for the handful of jobs open.  Several times I dove into online job boards, applying for jobs at local restaurants and any other thing available so I could "just get a job" like everyone here kept telling me.  I got one reply from a local fast-food place, and the manager changed her mind when she saw me. I have three solid years of restaurant work in my background.  But I'm now over 50, fat (thought losing weight big time), have bad teeth, and my last career was as a taxi driver.  Those things seem to make me completely unemployable here.

I've been blogging since I came to NC, and looked into ways to make money doing that.  But most "make money blogging" affiliate marketing programs involve getting people to buy an over-priced ebook about how to make money by selling over-priced ebooks.  So I didn't do that.

Instead, the entrepreneurial side of me, that was born in the action sports world in California, went to work.  I started reading about how technology was changing our world, particularly our business world.  I started attending the University of YouTube, watching all kinds of videos by the fairly small number of people who really understand aspects of this huge change we're all going through.  I started self-educating.  Out of that came the one thing that has made me some money over the last year, my artwork.  It hasn't made me much, but I'm making steady progress at it.

Most important, I was finally able to make at least a little income, something that seemed nearly impossible since I landed in the Triad region of NC where my family wound up living.  My years in the action sports world, writing for magazines, and working on TV crews mean nothing here.

While I draw pictures in my unique style to earn what I can, I'm going to also be looking deeper into the future of jobs, meaningful work, and the ways we can deal with this huge social changes led by new technology.  There just aren't enough people focusing on this huge issue right now, and raising awareness is one thing I can do right now as I search for solutions and ways to deal with a very uncertain future.

What bothers you about where the work world is headed?  Let me know.