Author Description

The sinister notion that machines will someday kill all jobs has been around for at least 200 years. Yes, machines can replace people at work or change the work that is needed, and they always have. At the same time, the labor force participation in the world has remained quite stable for many generations, and on the whole, the middle class has been growing worldwide. Innovation can both kill and create work. i4j-Innovation for Jobs-is a leadership forum discussing how to disrupt unemployment and eradicate joblessness. All people can create value-but for that to happen, we need to develop a people-centered, rather than a task-centered, economy. Today, we are very far from that. According to Gallup, of the five billion people on this planet aged fifteen or older, three billion work in some way. Most of them want full-time jobs, but only 1.3 billion have them. Of these, only 13 percent are fully engaged in their work, giving and receiving its full value. This terrible waste of human capacity and mismanagement of people's desire to create value for each other is more than just very bad business. It is an insult to ourselves and to all human beings. We believe there are ways to move beyond the habit of rejecting and mistreating ourselves in this way. The good news is that this is an epic opportunity for entrepreneurs. Soon, virtually everyone will have a smartphone, allowing innovations for the first time to compete for the value-creating capacity of people everywhere, around the clock. We can begin to focus on raising the value of people, rather than only lowering the cost of tasks. All people can be offered jobs that are tailored to match their unique sets of skills, talents, and passions with the most valuable opportunities. People need jobs to raise families. Gigs are too unpredictable. Innovators can find new ways of satisfying the need for jobs-it does not have to be employment.i4j visions: Toward an Innovation-for-Jobs Economy by Vint Cerf and David NordforsChapt