65% of kids in preschool today will work in jobs or careers that do not yet exist!
— Jim Carroll
Original 2021 statement: Most kids today will work in a job or career that does not yet exist
What Jim has written about this
From “Daily Inspiration: Education and Skills - “65% of kids in preschool today will work in jobs or careers that do not yet exist!”” (November 2022)
It’s interesting to be a futurist and to live through the very predictions that you made many years ago. That’s something that is occurring right now with my 29-year-old son Willie - today, he works in a career as a drone pilot, a field that did not actually exist when I first made this prediction almost 25 years ago. In effect, he’s a ‘location intelligence professional,’ a career that first entered my trends radar shortly after he was born - helping align a traditional building-inspection/forensics firm to a new and different future.
Boom! I had found a trend of great significance, reinforcing much of what I was already witnessing. Over time, this led to a lot of stage work centered around new carers, specifically using the ‘location intelligence’ career.
From “Daily Inspiration: “Kids today will work in jobs tomorrow that do not yet exist, using knowledge yet to be generated, based on ideas that no one has yet thought of!”” (August 2020)
“Kids today will work in jobs tomorrow that do not yet exist, using knowledge yet to be generated, based on ideas that no one has yet thought of! ” - Futurist Jim Carroll
Today, there are millions of jobs, massive volumes of knowledge, and countless brilliant discoveries based on these realities. Jobs and careers that did not yet exist, that few were barely thinking about.
Now cast your mind forward : our world in ten years will look nothing like it does today. That is a simple fact - and given that the pace of change is speeding up, we will see even more dramatic developments throughout every single aspect of our daily lives.
From “What’s the future of education - and what should we do about it?” (December 2008)
Consider the kids in this picture. Most of them will work in careers that don’t yet exist; they’ll have multiple careers throughout their lifetime; they’ll constantly have to upgrade, enhance and rebuild their knowledge; they’ll find themselves having to grab new knowledge on a “just-in-time” basis. Providing for such a reality requires a fundamental rethinking a lot of the current assumptions that are fundamental to the education system.
The rapid rate of knowledge growth is leading to rapid career change - - hence, the Australian observation that ” 65% of children in pre- school will be employed in roles and jobs that don’t exist today .” Given my understanding of change, I’d happen to believe that to be true.
Here’s an Interesting statistic — a survey of consulting engineering students revealed that most of them thought a long term career was one that lasted from 2 to 5 years…! The kids are already thinking about this — we can instill them with our wisdom and guidance as educators in order that they can do it right.
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Daily Inspiration: Education and Skills - “65% of kids in preschool today will work in jobs or careers that do not yet exist!”
Daily Inspiration: “Kids today will work in jobs tomorrow that do not yet exist, using knowledge yet to be generated, based on ideas that no one has yet thought of!”
What’s the future of education - and what should we do about it?