Today's children could have 40 jobs and live to 100, says expert

Children in the UK who are just starting secondary school have a decent chance of living to 100 and will have up to 40 different jobs in their lifetime, a head teacher's conference at St Andrews University in Scotland has heard.

With graduate employability and a pending skills gap worrying many CFOs according to recent studies, chief executive of Fast Futures, Rohit Talwar, has been laying out a vision of the future for the leaders of UK educational establishments.

Life expectancy

Average life expectancy in the UK is now over 80 for both sexes and is actually increasing at the rate of five months per year. Coupled with the expected increases in automation and robotic solutions in the workplace, there could be fewer jobs to go around for a long-living population.

Talwar told the conference: "Estimates show between 30% and 80% of all jobs available today will disappear within the next 20 or 30 years,” before adding that “an 11-year-old going into school today will have a reasonable expectation of living until 120."

Massive changes

“Will it be natural for 50% of the population not to be working? And what happens to society if 50% of the people don’t have jobs?" Talwar asked.

Most of the world’s biggest companies are already planning to downsize their workforces, and the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference was told that educational establishments need to adapt to the coming changes.

“We’re going to be living longer and we’re not going to be working in the same way,” Talwar concluded.