Future of skills and learning

The Future of SKILLS
and LEARNING
Stephen Murgatroyd, Phd, FBPS, FRSA

The Big Ideas
 Work has changed dramatically since 2000
 Contingent workers
 Nature of work as a process
 Work will change significantly by 2030 due to technology
 Artificial intelligence and robotics
 New kinds of manufacturing - 3D printing of medical devices, houses, cars
 Demographic shifts
 Uberization carries major challenges for all organizations / public policy
 Need to rethink the place of work in the lives of people
 Need to rethink learning and skills development in a College

Contingent and Self Employment
Growing
Year Total Self-
Employed
(Canada)
1987 1,699,100
2007 2,598,600
2017 2,875,900
 By the year 2000 in Canada, app.
50% of the workforce were
contingent workers – contracted for
service rather than employees. 16%
declare themselves in this way as
self-employed.
 Largest number of contingent
workers are young people under the
age of 35.
 Canada has the 3rd largest contingent
workforce in the world behind New
Zealand (#1) and the US (#2).
 75% of the university sector are
contingent

The Gig Economy IS the Economy..
 Worldwide, 40% of the world’s
workforce are contingent workers
and this number is expected to rise
to 60% by 2020.
 In the Fortune 100 companies,
contingent workers make up 30% of
the workforce, but predictions are
that will soon rise to 50%.

Not Only Has WHO is working
changed, but WHAT they do has too
 Manufacturing more focused on the
management of technology than
production activity – maintenance.
 Artificial intelligence + design = new
thinking about process.
 Office work has changed – 24x7
access, process based work,
globalization of work..
 Outsource + Insource – 24x7 work
BMW Mini Plant at Cowley, Oxford UK
A customized car every 61 seconds

Idea 2: More Change to Come
TECHNOLOGY

Emerging Technology: 3D Printing
 Local Motors (Phoenix, Arizona)
crowdsources design and
engineering and then 3D prints its
components / body.
 Manufactures customized versions
on demand.
 Manufactures all forms of transport,
including snowmobiles, water based
vehicles and public transport.
 First driverless 3d printed public bus
now operating in Helsinki

3D Printing Quickly Emerging…
 A group of Dutch engineers have
printed a bridge crossing a Dutch
canal using an “arm printer”,
overcoming the size limitations of 1st
and 2nd generation 3D printers.
 3D medical devices – prosthetics,
stents, dental devices and other –
already a fast growing sector: the
ability to personalize / customize a
strong attractor.
 Using a cell phone as a printer (light
from the phone used on polymers to
print)
 Elon Musk and his engineers at
SpaceX have created a 3D printed
SuperDraco rocket engine. This got
off the ground in 2016.
 3D printing now includes:
 Houses (several places, but also
China and India) and sleeping pods
(Africa)
 Aerospace parts (European Space
Agency)
 Metal parts
 Medical devices

3D Printing in 2016
Driverless Bus Helsinki 3d Printed Food

Robotics
 Forget many of the images you have
of what robots are and what they can
do..
 Imagine..
 Robotic kitchens which can produce
meals on demand..
 Robotic weapons and fight systems
 Self-driving cars, buses, trains and
trucks likely to replace current
transport systems over time –
potential displacement of some 3.5
million North American workers by
2030
 570,000 surgeries in 2014 were
robotically assisted

Artificial Intelligence (AI)
 Offering an analysis of an MRI scan –
suggesting clinical pathways based
on “best possible” understanding
 Predicting student behaviour
 Counselling and personal therapy..
 Supports for design and creativity
 Man-machine interfaces for better
productivity – especially in
manufacturing, financial services and
health
The Singularity – Where AI is smarter than
the collective intelligence of the species

DEMOGRAPHY

Basic Demography (Canada)
 By 2030, 30% of Canadians will be
over 60 years of age
 There will be 2 working age people
in Canada for each retiree – down
from 4 in 2015.
 GDP could fall by as much as 52%
(McKinsey)
 More seniors than students in K-12
for the first time.

By 2050: More Demographic Shocks..
 Global population will exceed 9
billion
 The proportion of the world’s
population over 65 will double
 There will be over 400 million
persons over 80 – 4x the present
number
 80% of those 65 or older will live in
low or middle income countries
 For the first time in history, there will
be more people over 65 than under
14
 In Italy, Japan and Spain 1 in 3 will be
over 65

Economic Geography – Shift Happens!
 2.3 billion new middle class
consumers will emerge by 2030,
mainly in Asia, India and Africa
 By 2025 almost 50% of the world’s
billion dollar companies will be
headquartered in emerging markets,
not in North America or Europe (41%
of them are already Asian based)
 425 major cities will fuel the global
economy – 315 of them are in Asia

Changes in the Workforce
 Shift from routine work to creative
employment..
 Replacement of routine work with
technology – think secretarial
services, banking, travel..
 Higher education key to future
employment..

NEW KINDS OF ORGANIZATIONS

New Kinds of Organizations
 Uber – matches drivers with those needing a ride..
 99 Designs – matches designers with those needing design work
 Rent-a-Coder – matches those with coding capabilities with those who need
purpose built software / applications
 Trendwatching – trend analysts track small and large data and patterns and
offer their services against challenges
 Amazon Go – a shop without tellers or check-out
 Alibris – global bookseller which is actually a brokerage
 Lynda - learning on demand (also Creative Live..)
 Fiverr - rapid professional services on demand
 Task-Rabbit – matching local skills with local needs (e.g. odd jobs, gardening,
window cleaning, catering, tutoring…)

Organizational Life Cycle Shorter
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
1935 1958 1980 2011 2015
Average Tenure of Companies on S&P 500

Just 12% of the 1955 Fortune 500
remained on the list in 2015.

Think About: Human labour no
longer drives economic growth.
 In 1964, the most valuable company in the US, AT&T, was worth $267
billion in today’s dollars and employed 758,611 people. Today’s
telecommunications giant, Google, is worth $370 billion but has only
about 55,000 employees—less than a tenth the size of AT&T’s
workforce in its heyday.
 Nine out of 10 workers today are in occupations that existed 100
years ago, and just 5 percent of the jobs generated between 1993 and
2013 came from “high tech” sectors like computing, software, and
telecommunications. Our newest industries tend to be the most labor-
efficient: they just don’t require many people. It is for precisely this
reason that the economic historian Robert Skidelsky, comparing the
exponential growth in computing power with the less-than-
exponential growth in job complexity, has said, “Sooner or later, we
will run out of jobs.”

AI+ROBOTICS = BIG DISRUPTION
 World Economic Forum suggests that app. 7 million jobs will be lost
and 2 million gained as a result of technological change in 15 major
developed and emerging economies by 2020.
 Most forecasters predict that app.40% of current jobs will disappear
by 2030, replaced by “smart” technology. Could impact 2 billion
workers either by unemployment or reduced need for employment.
 Major industries impacted: transport, energy, retail, education, health,
insurance, communications.
4 out of 5 jobs lost in the US since 2000 are due to
automation

BC’s Skills Gap
 The 2015 Skills Gap in British
Columbia costs app. $4.7billion in
lost opportunities - $616 million in
lost Provincial tax revenues.
 An additional $1.3 billion is lost due
to skills-mismatches.
 That’s a $6 billion cost!

The Six Skills Gaps
 Gap 1: The Basic Gap: The Gap Between What Employers are Seeking and
What they Can Find
 Gap 2: The Expectations Gap – The Gap Between What an Employee Expects
to Experience at Work and What they Actually Find Themselves Doing
 Gap 3: The Productivity Gap – The Skills We Need to Develop to Significantly
Improve Productivity
 Gap 4: The Leverage Gap – The Underutilization of Skills in the Workforce
 Gap 5: The Futures Gap – The Gap Between Current Skill Sets and the Skills
We Need to Become Competitive in the 4th Industrial Revolution
 Gap 6: The Innovation Gap - The Skills We Need to Build a More Innovative
and Sustainable Economy

Skills based learning needs to be..
 Available to anyone, at anytime, anywhere – at college, at work, at home, in
the community, in prisons, on reserve…
 Modular, stackable and portable
 Focused on capabilities, competencies and mastery of knowledge and
understanding…
 Focused on what someone can do and how they do it and less on credentials
 Micro-credit as important as a red seal, diploma or certificate
 Employers want to know what you bring to their organization in terms of
“soft skills” as well as hard skills

Programs and Courses:
 Shorter modules (2-3 weeks)
 Delivered flexibly
 Based on competency, capability and mastery
 Assessment on demand
 Modules should stack from a badge to an applied doctorate

WE NEED TO RETHINK
APPRENTICESHIP
 It is not about time, its about capabilities
 It is not about ratios for supervision – its about mentoring, coaching
and guiding for success
 It is also about recognizing prior learning, workbased learning and
knowledge and skills acquired from any source – its not about college,
it is about capability
 The key role for a College and other providers is mentoring, coaching,
guiding, assessment – some teaching and learning may be required!

WE NEED
 Employees to have the legal right to ask for training
 Employers investing more in training and learning
 More providers of learning in more places more flexibly
 Assessment is the key – capability based assessment is the future

WE NEED BC TO HAVE..
 A skills guarantee:
 Each person has a right to a comprehensive skills assessment
 Following their skills assessment, each individual has a right to a tailored and
flexible learning program that meet the needs of the candidate and local,
regional and national workforce.
 Recognition of the skills that people acquire through micro credit, badges,
laddered qualifications; and encouragements for people to undertake
certification or gain a qualification.
The European Union agreed to this exact measure as part of the Upskilling
Pathway for the EU’s Skills Agenda, 2016-2021.

The Post-Work Economy
Characteristics
 Less demand for employees, more
demand for contingent workers
with specialized skills
 More use of global labour – 99
designs is the business model
 More demand for sophisticated
technology
 More demand for ‘uber-like”
services in many sectors, including
health and education
 Fewer people needed to sustain
economic activity overall
 Some careers “survive”, others
mutate, yet others disappear

“
”
The biggest enigma of the post-work society
is what happens to the self when it cannot
define itself against corporate identity, skill
set or seniority.
PAUL MASON WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN, FEBRUARY 17TH 2016
“And it’s our fulfillment, rather than the satisfaction of our
appetites, that’s threatened by the slow decline of work”.
Ross Douthat, New York Times, February 23rd 2016

“THE FUTURE IS RARELY A
STRAIGHT LINE FROM THE
PAST….”
EXPECT THE NEXT CHALLENGE TO LEARNING TO BE A CURVEBALL!

THANK YOU!
murgatroydstephen@gmail.com

Future of skills and learning

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