I read The End of Jobs last year, and thought it was great!
Taylor Pearson makes a convincing argument that work in the future will not look anything like it does today, but one aspect is inevitable – personal entrepreneurship.
In 2011, the Wall Street Journal published Marc Andreessen’s famous essay, “Why Software Is Eating the World”. Today, software is still eating the world, including a whole lot of jobs.
The traditional path to success through formal education and the career ladder is failing. It is not just failing for recent college graduates who can’t get professional jobs after accumulating hundreds of thousands of college debt. It is failing for all workers.
Globalization is not just continuing, it is accelerating. Educational standards around the world have improved, and so has the communication technology to find and work with people around the world.
The middle class is not only being being replaced by overseas workers, but also by the technology that is being developed around the corner. Jobs in almost all industries are becoming commoditized. This is true not only for low-skill jobs, but also for highly-credentialed ones.
I liked Taylor’s discussion of the evolution of our economy. He begins by describing the agricultural economy from 1300 to 1700. This was followed by the industrial economy from 1700 to 1900. Next came the knowledge economy, and the rise of the corporation, from 1900 to 2000. Today, we are seeing the rise of the entrepreneur, and the traditional “job” is disappearing.
Taylor concludes the book by providing actionable strategies and tactics.
I highly recommend this book! You can learn more about it here.