Innovation. Technology. The cutting edge. And…the pink slip? In this ESL lesson, students consider how work will be different in the future as a result of recent shifts in job market trends. Students learn and practice vocabulary by taking part in engaging discussion activities concerning the job skills necessary for the future. Students also watch a video with predictions about the future of work. The lesson activities have been developed for adult and teenage learners.

Lesson Objectives

To develop speaking and listening skills

To discuss work in the future

To learn and use new vocabulary

Video

What does the future hold for the job market? A lot of jobs are getting irrelevant, but, at the same time, new ones are created. This video talks about what we need to do to prepare for the job market in the upcoming years.

Video Transcript SHOW

- COVID-19 is one of the biggest crises of our time. It has impacted every single one of us shaken our social systems and disrupted every sector of our economies. The automation of work, combined with a global recession led workers to lose their jobs at an accelerated pace compared to previous years. And this trend is expected to continue. The ongoing shift in the division of labor between humans, machines and algorithms might displace 85 million jobs worldwide in the next five years. While 97 million new roles, ones that are more adapted to this new task distribution may emerge. By 2025, companies expect to displace roughly 6% of their total workforce, one in two workers will need reskilling and those remaining in their current roles will need to update 40% of their skill set to adapt to the changing labor market. There is a way to collectively benefit from these challenging times. Decades of research have shown that the most valuable asset of any economy or company is its human capital. Around the globe, companies are already experiencing a shortage in relevant skills for future roles, and are investing in reskilling and upskilling their workforce. By 2025, organizations say they will train over 70% of their employees to ensure they can smoothly transition into the jobs of tomorrow. These include DevOps engineers, artificial intelligence specialists, digital marketing managers, talent acquisition specialists, and customer success specialists. It will take on average between two weeks and five months for workers to pick up new skills, allowing them to move into these new roles. That data shows they won't need to have the perfect skill set to start transitioning. While two thirds of employers expect to get a return on investment in employees reskilling programs within just one year. Governments will also need to step in to update and fund education and training systems and to ensure displaced workers have adequate safety nets. With purposeful leadership and collaboration. We can turn this global crisis into a unique opportunity to transition into a future of jobs that is inclusive, fair and sustainable.