one of the operators who was being made redundant by robots put his finger on it. He just said "you do realise a robot is never going to buy a car".
My kids are at an age where they have to make a choice as to what career path to follow. I am gently trying to steer them towards careers which are less likely to face oblivion. Eldest wants to be a vet, which is not so bad, youngest has a scientific/technical bent but does not know what he wants to do.
The biggest problem facing future generations is where the money is for these goods and services comes from, when nobody else has a job to pay for them. The Government already preserves millions of jobs that pay less than it cost to live, the current trend to reduce state dependency will fail.
The only answer I can see on the horizon at the moment is a citizen's income.
Which begs the question, where is the money for a citizens income coming from ?
Many people now are on zero hours contracts with minimum wage - this is mainly due to loss of 'proper' (manufacturing) jobs, due to either loss of companies or automation of existing ones. Just look at voracious Uber, wants to run a profitable business and pay no tax but will not acknowledge that its 'drivers' (soon to be redundant as well due to Uber driverless cars - ha, ha) are actually employees of the company and should get sick pay, paid holidays and NI contributions paid. What we have is companies like Uber and Amazon paying no tax, paying lowest wages they can and their 'employees' (zero hours contractors) wages are being topped up by other taxpayers through tax credits, income support etc.
Vets seem to do well, but I think it is mainly 'small animal' (ie pets) vets, due to booming pet insurance business the fees that vets can charge has gone through the roof ...... when I look at what vets charge now compared with what they charged when we last had a pet (adjusted for inflation) it is horrendous, and the number of procedures offered for pets has also multiplied (nose and boob jobs etc LOL).
We are rapidly developing into a 'service industry' world, full of personal shoppers, personal trainers, financial advisors etc. - with economy dependent on people spending money they haven't got buying goods they don't really need (mainly imported) and house building (many materials also imported).
Widespread use of AI will only make things worse...................