FutureworkNZ

Featured image: The future of volunteer work

The future of volunteer work

Dave Heatley • Jun 21, 2019

I only know one economist joke. A plane carrying economists plummets towards the ground after its engines fail. In a quiet cabin, an economist pipes up: “in my model the demand for parachutes just peaked, and the market will increase supply”. This caricature of economists — withdrawn, unemotional and overly trusting in simplistic models — has at least a grain … Read More

Featured image: Land use and the future of work

Land use and the future of work

Guest Author • Jun 20, 2019

Phil McDermott   Flexible land-use planning complements a complex, dynamic and unpredictable employment environment. The future of work is drawing increasing policy attention internationally and locally. When considering the physical demands of changing forms of production, distribution and consumption, there are strong arguments for seeking a more flexible approach to the associated land use and infrastructure requirements of working and residential … Read More

Featured image: Career is a verb, not a noun

Career is a verb, not a noun

Dave Heatley • Jun 19, 2019

career (v) move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way. My good friend Mariska tells me that’s a better description of her work life than the more traditional definition… career (n) an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life and with opportunities for progress. In the interests of science, and despite the small sample size, I thought I’d … Read More

Featured image: Pick a path

Pick a path

Dave Heatley • Jun 13, 2019

Technology is an irresistible force, emerging from inventors and relentlessly changing the nature of work and society. Or at least that’s the way it is often portrayed. You can see this in the titles of books about technology, including Average is Over and Race Against the Machine. But do societies and governments … Read More

Featured image: The mothers of invention

The mothers of invention

Guest Author • Jun 10, 2019

Dave Heatley Necessity is the mother of invention if camping without tent pegs, according to Kinley Salmon in his very readable book Jobs, robots & us. But the development and diffusion of innovation is a more complex story. Economists came rather late to the thinking about what influences technological innovation. The … Read More

Featured image: Are ‘dumped’ workers pressured into ‘rebound’ jobs in NZ?

Are ‘dumped’ workers pressured into ‘rebound’ jobs in NZ?

Guest Author • May 30, 2019

Tim Maddock    Are fast rates of re-employment always a good thing? New Zealand’s incidence of long-term unemployment is very low compared to other OECD countries. And, according to data from 2003-10, New Zealanders who lose their jobs involuntarily regain employment quickly, by international standards. But is the story actually all that rosy? Could people be choosing to take … Read More

Featured image: Don’t believe the hype

Don’t believe the hype

Guest Author • May 17, 2019

Predicting technology is the first step towards predicting the labour market impacts of technology. But history tells us that technology prediction is like a game of chance. Make enough predictions and you’re sure to get some right… and many wrong, sometimes spectacularly. The president of IBM, Thomas Watson, purportedly said in 1943 that “I think there is a world market … Read More