The Future of California's Workforce
The Future of California's Workforce
As part of an IFTF and Centers of Excellence collaboration, this report looks at drivers of change in the California workforce. Demographic shifts, a deluge of data, smart machines, and new forms and tools of production are just some of those that will reshape many aspects of work in California in the next twenty years. Not only will the content of work change, but many new occupations will arise that are not even in existence today; even basic notions of how work is defined and performed will also transformed.
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This report analyzes key drivers that will reshape the STEM disciplines and landscape of work in California through 2032. It explores the impacts of these drivers on important domains of the economy in that period:
- agriculture,
- health,
- security,
- media,
- manufacturing,
- retail, and
- infrastructure.
To better illustrate the tangible impacts of these changes and what they will mean in terms of real job requirements, we developed prototypes of future jobs, describing the content of each job, its skill requirements, and its education requirements. Think of these prototypes as something one might find advertised when looking for a job in 2032.
Seven Drivers of Change
Drivers are important starting points for creating forecasts—plausible, internally consistent visions of the future. Drivers of change are the deep underlying forces that will be shaping the future.
When we think about the future of jobs in California, the following seven drivers stand out:
- Health Divide
- De-institutionalization
- Energy
- Volatility + Uncertainty
- Smart Machine
- New Manufacturing
- Big Data
Future Job Titles
Here is a sampling of the future job titles:
- Laboratory Meat Technician
- Curator of Research Analytics
- Precrime Analyst
- Neuromarketing Manager
Read the full report to learn about the full range explored in this research.
Publication Date
2011
Public Release: 2012
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Institute for the Future
For more information on The Future of California's Workforce research or on IFTF research in general, please contact Sean Ness (online form, sness@iftf.org, 650-233-9517).
Centers of Excellence
For more information from the Centers of Excellence about this project, please visit STEM in 20.