Question

1. Explain how inequality is affecting the middle class? Which type of jobs have experienced the greatest growth in employment?

Answer 1

For most economists the concepts of "middle class" or even inequality did not have a prominent place in our thinking about how an economy is growing. And this is starting to shift. One reason for the change is that inequality levels and middle-class financial stress have risen dramatically and have reached levels that motivate a closer investigation. In particular, the interaction and competition of rising inequality with the financial collapse and the Great Recession has raised new questions as to whether a weakened middle class and rising inequality should form part of our thinking about the drivers of economic growth.

In 1979, the United States' middle three quintiles of household income—that is, the pay-scale population between the 21st and 80th percentiles earned 50% of all national income. But those in the middle shrank to just 43 per cent by 2007. The Gini coefficient evolution, which tests how far a distribution deviates from total equality, reveals a strong trend of increasing inequality as well. Between 1979 and 2007, in the United States, the Gini coefficient including capital gains rose from 48 to 59, ranking the United States in the top quarter of the world's most unequal countries.

Workers today need to be constantly aware of the way that technology is disrupting the workforce. Some jobs may be at risk, with rapid improvements in technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. Jobs who want a career within 20 years will focus on acquiring skills and experience in fast-growing industries.

By comparison, further unpacking of the package of technical forces of transition in the Fourth Industrial Revolution mold offers a much more positive image of the job-creating potential of innovations such as big data analytics, mobile internet, the Internet of Things and robotics. The largest expected drivers of job creation, however, are demographic and socio-economic in nature; in particular, the opportunities offered by young demographics and rising middle classes in emerging markets, as well as women 's rising economic power and aspirations.

Computer and Mathematical Job Family will experience very high growth based on data analysts and software and application developers not only in the information and communication technology industry but across a wide range of industries, including Financial Services & Investors, Advertising, Entertainment and Knowledge, Mobility and Professional Services.