The new work order - fya.org.au

1 The new work order Ensuring young Australians have skills and experience for the jobs of the future, not the past. 1. At the Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), we believe young people are ambitious, creative and capable of rethinking the world and solving tomorrow's problems today. FYA is a national for-purpose organisation that is all about backing the next generation of young people who are going to rethink the world and create a better future. At FYA we connect and inspire young changemakers - the innovators, the makers, the dreamers, the thinkers, the doers and the creators. Find out more at The content of the report was prepared for the Foundation for Young Australians by AlphaBeta. AlphaBeta is a strategy and economic advisory business Singapore and Sydney.

2 Copyright and disclaimer Copyright in this report is vested in The Foundation for Young Australians pursuant to the Australian Copyright Act 1968. Unless otherwise stated, no part may be reproduced by any process, unless permitted by the Australian Copyright Act 1968, or used for any commercial purposes without the written permission of The Foundation for Young Australians. The materials presented in this report are for information purposes only. The information is provided solely on the basis that readers are responsible for making their own assessments of the matters discussed. Readers are advised to make their own enquiries and to obtain independent advice before acting on any information contained in or connected with this report. While every effort has been made to ensure that the information is up-to-date and accurate, the Foundation for Young Australians will not accept any liability for any loss or damages that may be incurred by any person acting in reliance upon the information.

3 Copyright 2017 The Foundation for Young Australians. All rights reserved. 2 The New Work order Contents FOREWORD 2. 1. OVERVIEW 5. 2. THREE FORCES SHAPING THE FUTURE OF WORK 11. Automation 11. Globalisation 13. Collaboration 15. 3. OPPORTUNITIES IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK 17. Lower barriers 18. More flexibility 19. Wider markets and more specialization 20. 4. RISKS IN THE NEW WORLD OF WORK 23. Unemployment 23. Inequality 26. Insecurity 27. 5. HOW TO MAKE WORK WORK FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 28. Policies to enable 30. Policies to protect 38. END NOTES 43. REFERENCE LIST 46. 1. Foreword The future of work is changing. It's a reality governments, industry and communities are all grappling with. The Reserve Bank of Australia has raised concerns regarding fewer working taxpayers to older people as the baby boomers retire and young people do not replace them.

4 We will need an innovative and entrepreneurial generation of young people to maintain our standard of living. The Foundation for Young Australians previous report Enterprising skills are transferrable across different in this series, Renewing Australia's Promise, clearly jobs and are a more powerful predictor of long-term identified we are not investing in our young people to job success and performance than technical knowledge. meet this challenge with 30% currently unemployed They include communication project management or underemployed and a generation more in debt and financial literacy digital literacy and the ability to unable to access home ownership than their parents. critically assess and analyse information, be creative Graduates are finding it harder to find employment and and innovate.

5 An enterprising skills education would: employers are reporting mismatches in the skills young > begin early in primary school and build consistently, people are learning and those industry requires. year on year, throughout high school The New Work order , shows that more issues are ahead > be provided in ways that young people want to learn: for young people as the most significant disruption in through experience, immersion and with peers the world of work since the industrial revolution begins to have an impact in the next decade. > provide accurate information and exposure about where future jobs will exist and the skills to craft and Economic changes are transforming work through navigate multiple careers automation, globalisation and more flexible work.

6 This could bring opportunity. But it could also further disadvantage > engage students, schools, industry and parents in co- young people in labour markets. For example, the report designing opportunities in and outside the classroom. shows currently around 70% of young Australians are getting Our policy choices today will determine whether their first job in roles that will either look very different or be Australia's young people are ready to take on the completely lost in the next 10 to 15 years due to automation. challenges of the future for decades to come. These Nearly 60% of Australian students (70% in VET) are currently are not just challenges for individual young people. studying or training for occupations where at least two thirds They are challenges for our nation.

7 Of jobs will be automated. Over 50% of jobs will require significant digital skills and yet our young people are not We must act now to ensure young Australians can thrive learning them in schools. in this new work order . At FYA we see a significant opportunity to sure up our nation's future by investing in the next generation and backing them to create the kind of world they want to live in. Core to this will be a generations of enterprising young people who are job builders and creators, not only job seekers. Jan Owen AM. CEO. That's why FYA is calling for a national enterprise skills Foundation for Young Australians strategy to ensure young people are prepared for the economy of the future and equipped with the tools to drive economic and social progress.

8 We want all young Australians to learn the skills to be digitally-literate, financially-savvy, innovative and adaptable and help them navigate complex careers of the future. 2 The New Work order Preparing young people for the new future of work is an issue of national importance. 3. 4 The New Work order 1. Overview Work has long been important for the But beneath the seemingly benign surface of Australia's livelihood, dignity, and happiness of labour market, there is a quiet revolution occurring in the way we work. The old blue collar' part of workforce humankind. We intuitively and statistically is barely recognisable today. As the factories in our know that work helps us meet our most urban manufacturing suburbs have been closed down basic and complex needs, providing a path or automated, the manual jobs they once provided towards financial security, mental and have been decimated.

9 Over the past 25 years, we have lost around 100,000 machinery operator jobs, nearly physical health, dignity and meaning. For 400,000 labourers, and nearly 250,000 jobs from the at least the past century, the prospect of a technicians and Offsetting these losses, there good job that pays a fair wage has been part has been an explosion of more than 400,000 new jobs of Australia's promise to our young in community and personal services. The work By many measures, Australia has continued revolution is no less visible in what we used to call white collar' jobs. Computers have swept through to deliver on its promise. We have enjoyed corporate towers and small business offices, displacing relatively strong economic growth, high nearly 500,000 secretaries and clerks.

10 At the same time, wages and low levels of unemployment. the increasing complexity of business processes and financial markets has created 700,000 new jobs across the professional and business services. While our unemployment rate may be low, our factory floor workers have not seamlessly switched their hard hats for a healthcare job. Instead, unskilled workers, especially men, have stepped out of the labour force on mass. Over the past 25 years, nearly one in ten unskilled men lost their jobs and did not return to the labour force. Today, more than one in four unskilled men don't participate. 3 Big economic shifts are not costless for everyone. 5. 6 The New Work order Young people already struggle with challenging pathways Globalisation: Our workforce is going global and the into work.