Employment and Jobs

Four Myths About the Future of Work

June 20, 2018  • Maureen Conway & Mark G. Popovich

The big future of work dialogue regularly provokes grandiose forecasting. These predications even drive multimillion or billion-dollar investment bets by firms in hot pursuit of the next big tech winner or lucrative business model. Some also outline a brave new world of transformed workplace, work, and workers. This is a conversation attracting loads of attention. And it has clear implications for low-income workers and economy opportunity more broadly. But for our tastes, too often the future of work rhetoric and reports are undercut by a paucity of understanding of the history of work.

We see four common myths in the future of work conversation. Click here to read more.

This piece was excerpted from “Four Myths About the Future of Work” (Spotlight on Poverty).

 

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To prepare for the #futureofwork, we must understand its history first. In @povertynews, @conway_maureen & @mpopov1229 address four myths about what’s next for workers in our changing economy.

“To us, [the #futureofwork in the #gigeconomy] looks quite a bit like the past. Piece work, day labor, temp jobs, patching a ‘side hustle’ with regular employment—these are all work arrangements with long histories.”

Is technology a looming threat in the #futureofwork? Not necessarily. “Technology can be and has been adopted while also improving working conditions and job quality as well as boosting productivity and consumer value.”

 

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