The Three Stages of the Future of Work

Over time, the three stages of the future of work will blur together. Companies will offer all-in-one services across training, discovery, and on-the-job tools. It’s easy to imagine Figma, for example, training workers in Figma and helping workers find jobs where they can use Figma.

Freelancers in the U.S. will grow from 65 million today to 90 million by 2028. This trend is more fundamental than finding a job; it’s a complete rethinking of the meaning of a career.

The broader trend here is the disaggregation of work. Younger people are more distrustful of institutions and “traditional” careers—having been burned by both the Great Recession and the Covid-19 economic crisis—and are turning to freelance work.

But education hasn’t kept pace with innovation in the labor market: today’s education systems aren’t teaching the right skills to tomorrow’s workers. This results in the skills gap, a mismatch in supply and demand for jobs.