Over the next 20 years the working population will increase by one billion people. That’s a lot of competition for jobs.
The growth will occur in the developing world, while established economies like Australia face the opposite problem. It’s an issue that we need to address — otherwise the newer economies will skill-up, develop their own domestic markets, and claim a bigger share of world output. At the same time, Australia needs more money to cope with an ageing population.
All of these issues are discussed in a new paper from Hays, Creating Jobs in a Global Economy 2011-2030, compiled in partnership with economic forecaster Oxford Economics.
In this edition of BTalk I discuss the trends with Alistair Cox, the Chief Executive of Hays Worldwide, including the phenomenon of the hour-glass economy, which is seeing semi-skilled jobs disappearing as they are replaced by technology.
There are five recommendations from the Hays report:
Keep national borders open for the movement of skilled labour
Agree an international code to facilitate employee migration
Invest in training and education
Create employment opportunities in the developing world
Retain older people in the workplace
Whether you agree with these four points or not, you have to agree that the idea of doing nothing is not an option.