Conference Presentation, Panel
The Technology and Upskilling Nexus
- Demographic shifts, with an average technician age of 58, are expected to drive a massive turnover in skilled trades, creating a persistent skills gap due to a lack of training infrastructure.
- Ed tech investment is projected to increase massively as businesses struggle to find talent, with companies investing in workforce development viewed as essential to retaining their most important asset.
- VR technology is predicted to approach mass adoption for consumer units, aided by Facebook's $400 all-in-one headset, though the technology cannot be applied universally and companies failing to build broadly usable tools face high failure rates.
- Interplay Learning plans to make its offerings VR-enabled, expand its catalog to include medical technology, and develop practical assessment skills for HVAC troubleshooting in partnership with California Community Colleges.
- Service firms are expected to offer catalogs for upskilling, and new equipment releases by OEMs will generate significant training demand to prevent technician errors and returned merchandise.
- Education models are anticipated to shift away from four-year degrees as a universal solution toward varied pathways, including project-based curriculums capable of preparing people for jobs within three to six months.
- Udacity intends to continue expanding nano degree programs in tech skills, aiming for 60,000 concurrent enrollees alongside 20 million free MOOC participants, while partnering with AT&T to have nearly 10,000 employees complete nanodegrees by 2020.
- LinkedIn expects to continue growing at a rate of one sign-up per second, with plans to launch licenses and certifications next month from a standardized list to improve labor market efficiency and help members without social capital build networks.
- The job market outlook suggests that while automation concerns are cyclical, new entrepreneurs outside the public workforce system are a growing force, and the most projected job openings over the next decade will be in lower-wage categories.
- The World Economic Forum predicts that 65% of jobs held by children currently in elementary school do not yet exist, necessitating a societal evolution in learning and the role education plays in life.
- Income share agreements and similar models are expected to gain traction to reduce financial risk for learners, with a collective shift toward valuing job categories like caregiving and teaching that are insulated from automation.
- Labor market dynamics are expected to react to talent shortages by raising wages, which have already begun to tick up, while data science tools may be used to determine certifications most likely to reduce unemployment time.
- The VR industry is anticipated to move up the hype cycle curve after investment plummeted by half in 2018, with millennial demographics demanding training availability on mobile devices or facing obsolescence.
- Future scenarios indicate a difficult prediction environment for specific job demands 10 years out, prompting groups to create local job risk pathways and fostering collaboration between technology sectors and on-the-ground operators.