Jan 17, 2019, 10:04 PM ETConference Presentation, Panel

Working Smarter: The Future of Jobs

Global Aging and Wealth: By 2050, the global population is projected to reach 2 billion, with 1 billion residing in Asia; the spending power of the population over 60 is projected to reach $15 trillion annually.
Demographic Shifts: Malaysia's population over 60 is expected to rise from 8% in the current year to 25% by 2050.
Birth Rate Declines: The United States recorded its lowest birth rate in history recently, dropping from 200 births per 1,000 women in the 1950s to 60 last year.
Replacement Levels: South Korea, China, and Iran experienced 50% drops in birth rates within 10 to 20 years, leaving all major Asian nations below replacement value.
Leadership Demographics: In 1951, the 8 founding leaders of the EU had 32 children between them; today, 7 of those 8 leaders' successors have never had children.
Life Expectancy Surge: Human life expectancy increased by only 11 years over 4 million years of evolution but jumped 41 years in the last 120 years.
Female Education Impact: Female university enrollment now exceeds male enrollment in two-thirds of countries, a shift from 65% to 90% of girls enrolled globally by 2015.

US Educational Stagnation: The US added one year of education per decade between 1870 and 1950 but has made little progress since 1960, allowing Singapore and other nations to surpass it.
Test Score Disparities: Beverly Hills High students rank in the 87.7th percentile in math in the US but drop to the 46th percentile in Canada and 34th in Singapore.
Asian Investment in Education: In 11 Asian nations, households spend equally on housing/transportation and supplemental education (a 1:1 ratio), contrasting sharply with the US ratio of 25:1.
Student Performance: Females are outperforming males in high school and college globally, creating a natural experiment to test if meritocracy translates to future leadership.
Data Literacy Crisis: 80% of workers in Australia, Singapore, India, and China consider themselves "relatively illiterate" regarding data, despite increased data requirements in the workforce.
Automation Fear: There is a direct correlation between lower levels of education and higher probability of job automation.

Vertical Farming: Vertical farms in China can harvest up to 26 times per year using less water than traditional farms, which typically rotate 4 to 6 times annually.
Clean Meat Costs: The cost of lab-grown fish croquettes dropped from $19,000 per pound in 2013 to $7,000 per pound, with the goal of achieving cost parity with traditional meat.
Genomic Sequencing: The cost of sequencing a human genome fell from $3 billion to under $1,000, with processing time decreasing from a decade to under an hour.
AI Diagnostics: AI algorithms can identify skin cancer with the accuracy of 21 board-certified dermatologists, scanning images at 200 times the speed of humans.
Job Displacement Risk: McKinsey Global Institute projects 400 million jobs (14% of the global workforce) could be displaced by 2030 due to automation.
Robotic Surgery Expansion: Robotic surgery has moved from the first US procedure in 1992 to widespread adoption, now facing competition from non-invasive focused ultrasound treatments.

Perception vs. Reality: A Milken Institute poll showed 80% of industry professionals believe they earn less than male counterparts, despite 50% acknowledging improved gender equality in their industry.
Pay Transparency: Only 20% of Fortune 500 companies (specifically 4% based on a challenge announcement) release full gender-specific statistics on pay, promotion, or hiring data.
S&P Global Pay Parity: S&P Global reports paying women equally to, or better than, male counterparts globally, though a 24.5% pay gap exists for women in the top quartile in the UK specifically.
Cultural Barriers in Asia: In East Asia, traditional Confucian expectations regarding motherhood often force women out of the workforce, with domestic help being difficult to secure in Korea and Japan.
The "Leaky Pipeline": In the entertainment industry, female directors struggle to secure funding without a track record, whereas pay gaps are less pronounced in China's current market structure.
Young Advocate Divide: Young women in the US and UK advocate aggressively for equality, while young Asian women tend to focus on over-performing to prove their value rather than vocalizing grievances.
Leadership Representation: Women comprise 52% of the Fortune 500 workforce but less than 5% of CEOs, with S&P Global maintaining roughly 40% female representation in its top 150 executives.

Economic Optimism: 78% of people under 30 in China believe they will have a better life than their parents, compared to only 26% in the US.
Policy Recommendations: Experts argue that public policy must focus on making parenthood easier for all genders, including paternal leave, to address unsustainable birth rates.
Capital Markets Evolution: The period between 1974 and 1983 saw the democratization of capital access, leading to the creation of 60 million jobs by small and medium businesses in the US over the following three decades.
Financial Education Programs: The Milken Institute is partnering with the World Bank (IFC) to train government financial experts in Africa and South Asia to improve investment counterparty capabilities.
Socratic Education Defense: Educators argue that AI cannot replace the "messy," Socratic human interaction required for deep learning and mentorship in the next 20–30 years.
Future of Work: Automated tasks will likely free humans to focus on client interaction and relationship building, requiring higher levels of digital fluency and emotional intelligence.
Global Dream: The ultimate goal is a universal "dream of opportunity" where economic advancement is based on ability rather than geography, gender, or origin.