{ Friday, May 26, 2006 } 3:57 PM

In 2 Decades, Will Your Job Exist?

In two decades, will your job exist?

10 new professions, 10 that will disappear and 10 that will never go away

(Extracted from: MSNBC News)

It's 2026. You lost your cashier job five years ago, when Wal-Mart Stores switched to automatic checkout. A job at the post office only lasted a few years, since no one sends mail anymore. Then came the avian flu, decimating populations around the world. Your new office job shut down because everyone was afraid of getting sick.

What's next? Be a quarantine enforcer! These crucial public servants patrol the streets in quarantined neighborhoods, ensuring no one leaves, except in a hearse. With your gas mask and bio-hazard suit, you wait for a signal from blighted households before calling the morgue. No matter how the economy changes, at least one skill will always be in demand: Dealing with the dead.

But one thing is clear: In two decades, your job probably won't exist, at least not in the same form. "I think there's going to be an enormous shift of occupations," says futurist Alvin Toffler, author of Future Shock and Revolutionary Wealth. "Most jobs are going to change. They'll survive, but they'll change."

Meanwhile, computers continue to take over the world. Machines will learn to perform most translation services, eventually making language experts unnecessary, Toffler says. Robotic aircraft will put fighter pilots out of business.

It's too early to declare the end of oil, but alternative energy will create dozens of new careers in the next two decades. Hydrogen fuel could be cost-competitive with gasoline if refueling stations were mass-produced, according to a study conducted by Ford. The hydrogen at these stations would be produced on-site, so managers would need an entirely different set of skills than required in today's gas stations, which are mainly retail operations.

Analysis:

NEW JOBS IN THE FUTURE

Click below for a description: • Gene screener • Quarantine enforcer • Drowned city specialist • Teleport specialist • Robot mechanic • Animal guardian • Dirigible pilot • Hollywood holographer • Space tour guide • Hydrogen fuel station manager

Jobs that will disappear

Click below for a description: • Grocery store cashier • Film processor • CD store manager • Union organizer • Encyclopedia writer • Miner • Construction worker • Fighter pilot • Call center representative • Oil wildcatter

Forever jobs

Click below for a description: • Politician • Prostitute • Morticians • Tax collector • Barber • Artists • Religious leader • Criminal • Parent • Soldier