Workquake

Rapidly changing technology means people and organizations can no longer predict what skills will best equip them for the future.

The World Economic Forum estimated [before the pandemic] that 133 million new jobs will emerge by 2025. Meanwhile, turnover is surging. Half of US employees between the ages of 25 and 35 stay in a job for less than 2.8 years, and organizations no longer promise long-term security. While CEOs complain about reduced employee loyalty, executives know economic and technological changes will require their companies to be nimble and able to change direction. They can’t commit to long-term employment.

Changing jobs expands employees’ networks and gives them new opportunities to learn, thus enhancing their value. Shifting employer demands require employees to learn continually to stay employable. Current workers are swelling the enrollment rosters in e-learning schools, whose market will be worth $325 billion in 2025.

College-educated individuals assess their personal value on the basis of their jobs. History-based expectations of employer paternalism have left some Americans psychologically unprepared for the...