New industrial revolution, known as the fourth industrial revolution, implies a set of important factors deeply concerning current social system.

Previous industrial revolutions transformed all productive sectors, which came along with migration from towns to cities and to industrial areas. In those places, machines took over manual worker. Currently there is a new component that is growing unstoppable: technology.

Perfect Storm

This fourth industrial revolution produces, in a way, the perfect storm. Digitalization, the IoT, robotics, AI, intelligent mobile devices and ·3D printers will set a new producing system. It is a new reality shaped by technology.

Intensive labor will turn more automatic. It will be an intelligent automaticity, different from the previous that took place in previous revolutions. This means that less manpower will be required. Human beings will work a shorter amount of time and, in polarized markets, their wages will also notice this change.

As labor moved from the country to cities to work in industries, when people went to 100 hours per week to 40, this new revolution will end up with less working hours.

From mechanical and monotonous jobs, there will be a move forward more qualified and related to knowledge economy and technology posts. These do not exist yet.

Robots and 3D printers will replace human beings from the most monotonous works. To get there, it will be to come up with a suitable education system ready to produce manpower adapted to this new working world with robots involved in as well.

Jobs at risk

World Economic Forum reports the automaticity will produce a loss of 5 million jobs by 2020. Most of the jobs at risk are the ones in manufacturing industries and call centers, where people with monotonous and repetitive jobs will become the first to be replaced. But risk is even higher because it can jeopardize highly qualified posts in medical and health related areas. In some of those cases diagnosis could be brought by computers. Within transportation, driverless vehicles will become more important. A similar process will take place within the financial world where new technological tools will offer different and adapted choices to costumers for investments. Even Media will be generating information by artificial intelligence.

A World Bank Development report points out that within OECD 57% of the jobs are at risk. In the US, this rate is 47%, 35% for the UK and 77% for China.

Are human beings ready for this upcoming changes? Is human being’s working life going to become part of their spare time? Probably we will come up with a mixture from different areas.

In 20 years’ time, we will be working 30 hours per week, instead of forty, but in more specialized posts, more qualified and knowledge economy related.

To go through this, the education system must take a step forward. Consequences will be devastating without qualified professionals for the new upcoming posts. If countries do not get ready, world unemployment will rise considerably.