44
Meet
the
Future
Workforce
Gen Z
They’re well-versed in computer
games and social media.
Here’s how Generation Z is
reshaping the workforce.
BY STEPHANIE WALDEN
Opposite Students
who attended the Intro
to Data Math final
“Mini-Conference” at
Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute in Troy, NY.
Quantified self-assessment auditor. Cryptocurrency wealth
management agent. Robotic tele-surgery technician.
You probably won’t see roles like these posted on mainstream job boards just
yet. But within the next decade, we’ll likely hear titles like “augmented reality
architect” casually tossed around at high school reunions.
Today’s teenagers and college students—those born in the mid-1990s
through the early 2000s, collectively referred to as Generation Z, or Gen Z—
will lead the charge when it comes to forging futuristic career paths. In a world
powered by human-machine partnerships, Gen Z will one day be the bulk of the
human component. Although post-millennials made up just 5 percent of the
U.S. workforce in 2017, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S.
Census Bureau data, they’re predicted to constitute about 20 percent of the
workforce as soon as 2020.
This cohort has gone through adolescence inundated with smart devices and
AI algorithms, and their comfort level with technology will prove advantageous
as they begin to enter the job market. But it’s impossible to predict what, exact-
PHOTOS BY TOM MOORE