The Future of Work: Preparing for Disruption

Workers of the future will need new sets of skills to compete. Recent advances in technology are changing how we live, communicate and do business, disrupting traditional industries and redefining the employee-employer relationship.

Thousands of routine and low-skill jobs will be eliminated by automation, A.I. and digital hyper-connectivity. However, these same advances present new opportunities, like:

New job creation
Increased productivity
Improved delivery of public services

This course emphasizes the urgency of developing human capital in meeting the challenges of the coming decades. Developing countries will need to take rapid action to invest in their people as innovation continues to accelerate. Themes in the course include: artificial intelligence, the gig economy, world of work, the future of work, labor market, policy makers, new technologies, digital economy, jobs of the future, machine learning, and labor force.

Skills-based example:

Participants will learn through Ted-like talks, podcasts, readings, interactive quizzes and scenario based exercises. They will also have an opportunity to share and dialogue with peers and experts including practitioners, government officials, academic and private sector. This course will introduce students to forward-thinking approaches that will build the new skill sets required in the 21st Century, including:

critical analysis
problem solving
“soft skills” like teamwork and empathy

Target Audience

This course is suitable for anyone with a general interest in how technology and innovation are changing business and employment as well as how the fields of health, education and workforce development can be used to meet the coming challenges. The course introduces the World Bank’s new index on human capital and provides insight into key concepts and issues in developing it.