Last week, National Public Radio’s “Marketplace” aired a report on the next generation’s job market. With 155 million people already in the American workforce, and with those numbers expected to grow, reporter Sarah Gardner investigated how future adults will fare in a “more globalized, digitized, technology-driven economy.”
She interviewed futurist Paul Saffo, who forecasts long-term trends. He’s convinced the job market will be even more competitive:
“This is becoming a borderless, global workplace. Children born today will spend part of their lives abroad, if they are successful professionals, in the same way their parents moved to different states.”
And what kinds of skills will those working in a global workplace need to succeed? Gardner polled numerous experts, who answered:
- Analytic and quantitative skills
- Social awareness or social IQ
- Creative problem-solving skills
- Ability to be adaptable
- Language and communications skills — Foreign languages!
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