World Economic Forum warns of major changes to workplace in ‘fourth industrial revolution’

MACHINES that teach themselves, 3D printers and automated transport — your average office in the year 2020 could be quite the different place.

That’s according to the Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum taking place this week, which claims a “fourth industrial revolution” will bring sweeping changes to virtually every field of work, from computer science to manufacturing.

“In many industries and countries, the most in-demand occupations or specialties did not exist 10 or even five years ago, and the pace of change is set to accelerate,” the report states.

“By one popular estimate, 65 per cent of children entering primary school today will ultimately end up working in completely new job types that don’t yet exist.”

The detailed analysis is based on a survey of global companies from nine different industries covering 13 million employees.

Results included the response of senior executives and chief human resource officers painted a picture of a world on the cusp of a “fourth industrial revolution” driven by technological developments and geopolitical changes.

Read more @ http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/careers/world-economic-forum-warns-of-major-changes-to-workplace-in-fourth-industrial-revolution/news-story/2987da5e9e9c9af24ad4c131ebe65cf3

Amnesty International report links batteries used in phones to child labour in Congo

HUMAN rights groups have uncovered a shocking truth behind our tech obsession and it’s not pretty.

According to Amnesty International and Afrewatch, children as young as seven are being exploited by unscrupulous mining companies to extract the material used to make lithium-ion batteries that power our smartphones and tablets.

The report found up to 40,000 children worked in mines across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2014. They often worked for up to 12 hours and got paid between one and two US dollars a day.

And the authors claim the world’s major electronics companies, such as Apple, Samsung and Sony, are failing to stop it.

In their report, This is what we die for: Human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of the Congo power the global trade in cobalt, the agencies say they were able to link the sale of the material used to make the batteries, cobalt, to mines that used child labour.

Read more @ http://www.news.com.au/technology/gadgets/mobile-phones/amnesty-international-report-links-batteries-used-in-phones-to-child-labour-in-congo/news-story/85956ab52fe48ab93c6138cdf313569f


"What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us."  ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~