Future of Work

About OSF'S inquiry

Fully developed, ongoing inquiry with dedicated staff and resources, an institutional home, and substantial deliverables.

Ongoing thought leadership, reporting series, commentary, content aggregation, and/or related meetings and forums.

One-time (but valuable) research study, conference or general publication that continues to inform other work.

Number of Years Projecting into the Future

Short-term (3–5 yrs)

Medium-term (5–10 yrs)

Long-term (10–30 yrs)

Initiative focused on structural inequality and workers' rights.

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US Political Economy

Russell Sage Foundation
Future of Work Program

The Future of Work program "examines the causes and consequences of the deteriorating quality of low-wage jobs in the United States."
Aspen Institute
"Working In America" Event Series

The Aspen Institute's Economic Opportunities Program hosts a series of events on the future of work. In 2015, events will focus on the intersection of technology and work.
Tyler Cowen

George Mason University Economist Tyler Cowen is the author of the book "Average is Over: Powering America Beyond the Age of the Great Stagnation"
Markle Foundation, Economic Future Initiative

Markle's Economic Future Initiative launched ReWork America which seeks to "1) Emphasize new ways for Americans to grow businesses and create work to support broadly shared prosperity, and 2) Focus on new ways for Americans, throughout their lives, to develop the talents and skills they need to participate in this new economy."
Dennis Snower
Kiel Institute for the World Economy

Dennis Snower, President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy and Institute for New Economic Thinking Fellow is an expert on labor economics, public policy and inflation-unemployment tradeoffs.
David Weil

In his book "The Fissured Workplace," David Weil discusses the evolving employer-employer relationship and proposes regulatory policies that will benefit both workers and companies. In 2014 President Obama appointed Weil the US Wage and Hour Administrator at the Department of Labor.
Oxford Martin Programme
on the Impacts of Future Technology

Researchers Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael A. Osborne published a widely discussed 2013 study through the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology. Their paper posited that 47% of US jobs could be susceptible to computerization over the next two decades.
Harold Meyerson

Harold Meyerson is the editor-at-large at The American Prospect and a columnist for The Washington Post. He writes regularly on the future of the American labor movement.
Pieria

Pieria seeks to bring together "experts from industry and academia to discuss some of the biggest issues facing our economy today." Associate Editor Frances Coppola generates regular web content on the future of work.
AFL-CIO Union
Future of Work Inquiry

The AFL-CIO's Damon Silvers and Craig Becker have led ongoing conversations on the future of work and organized labor.
Roosevelt Institute's Future of Work Initiative

Led by Roosevelt fellows Dorian Warren and Annette Bernhardt this project seeks "to develop concrete, innovative policies that will help build a new social contract for America's workers, and to disseminate that vision to the public, opinion leaders and policymakers."
The Future of Work Initiative

This is a partnership with Jobs with Justice, National Peoples Action and the National Guestworkers Alliance. This inquiry seeks to address the rise of contingent and low-wage work through innovative organizing solutions.
Rockefeller Foundation
Research and Scoping on Long-term Unemployment & Youth Unemployment

Led by John Irons in 2013, the Rockefeller Foundation conducted scoping and research related to jobs and unemployment.
EPI's Economic Research
and Analysis Network
Research on the Future of Work

The Economic Analysis and Research Network's "Future of Work in the States" initiative is a collective effort and discussion to envision the economy that worker's rights advocates want 30 years from now. This work was conducted in partnership with OSF.
The Workers Lab
Future of Work Inquiry

The Workers Lab will invest in ideas, projects, and organizing models that will support the next generation worker movement to: 1) achieve the necessary economic power to raise wages and economic standards, 2) achieve sufficient scale to impact workers across sectors, industries, and geographies, and 3) achieve self-sufficient revenue models.
Cornell University
School of Industrial & Labor Relations
Roundtable on Employment and Technology

In 2013, Cornell's ILR School hosted a Roundtable on Employment and Technology. This was a small convening of businesspeople, academics, and policymakers to discuss "employers use of new technologies and the impact on quality job-creation in the United States."
Mike Konczal,
Roosevelt Institute Fellow
Contributor to the Washington Post

Roosevelt Institute fellow that works on financial reform, unemployment, inequality, and a progressive vision of the economy. Has written about technological unemployment for his blog "RortyBomb", as well as the "WonkBlog" for the Washington Post and on Roosevelt's website.
Roosevelt Institute
"Next American Economy"

Led by Roosevelt fellow Bo Cutter, this project "identifies the trends and challenges that will shape our economy in the next 25 years [with a focus] on the potential impact of new technologies on productivity, employment, and inequality.
Paul Krugman, Economist
New York Times Columnist

New York Times op-ed contributor and economist at Princeton who has written about the "changing nature of the workforce, unemployment and inequality" in numerous posts.
Edward and Robert Skidelsky
Economist/Philosopher "How Much is Enough"

Father/Son Team. Wrote the book, "How Much is Enough," that questions the drive toward consumerism and "more" of the economy and questions whether there is another way.
Peter Frase, Sociologist
Columnist (Jacobin)

Peter Frase is contributor to "Jacobin" where he writes about the possibility of technological unemployment and left policies to combat inequality and unemployment.
Project Syndicate
"Future of Work" web content

Website that frequently has articles from leading academics that hosts a section on the Future of Work.
John Quiggin
Australian Economist

Australian social democratic economist that has written about different work models, technological unemployment and solutions.
Center for American Progress and PolicyLink
"All-In Nation"

Ongoing future-oriented research and policy work. CAP and PolicyLink published "All-In Nation: An America that Works for All" in 2013 featuring research on "America's Future Workforce."

US Political Economy/ Technology & Innovation

Kevin Drum
Mother Jones Contributor

Journalist who has written on technological unemployment and potential social impacts.
Cornell Industrial and Labor Relations School

The ILR School's Technology and Employment Sustainability Initiative "encourages cross-sector and probing dialogue on the workplace impact of advancing technologies. "
Susan J. Lambert

University of Chicago Professor Susan Lambert is a leading expert on "just-in-time" workforce management technologies and the ways in which technology is reshaping many low-wage service sector industries. She partners closely with the Carrie Gleason from the Center for Popular Democracy's Fair Work Week Initiative.
Equal Future

"Equal Future: Dispatches on Social Justice and Technology" is a weekly newsletter and web site published by Robinson + Yu.
Trebor Scholz

Trebor Scholz is a scholar, artist, organizer and Professor at The New School. Author of "From Mobile Playgrounds to Sweatshop City" and "Digital Labor." Organizer of two conferences on Digital Labor at The New School.
Saskia Sassen

Saskia Sassen is a sociologist at Columbia University. Expert on globalization, immigration, global cities, and networked technologies. Author of "Expulsions," and "The Mobility of Labor and Capital," which are about the global economy.
New America Foundation
"Future Tense" project

Joint project with the online journal "Slate" that explores emerging technologies and their transformative effects on society and public policy. Central to the partnership is a series of events in Washington, D.C., that take in-depth, provocative looks at issues that, while little-understood today, will dramatically reshape the policy debates of the coming decade.
Martin Ford
Technology Writer

Martin Ford, Technology Writer, Author of two leading books on technological unemployment: "Lights at the End of the Tunnel" and "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future."

Technology & Innovation

Pew's Internet and American Life Project

Pew Research Center's Internet and American Life Project "aims to be an authoritative source on the evolution of the internet through surveys that examine how Americans use the internet and how their activities affect their lives."
Douglas Rushkoff

Douglas Rushkoff is the author of "Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now," as well as a dozen other books on media, technology, and culture, including "Program or Be Programmed" and "Life Inc."
Arc

Published bimonthly and from the makers of New Scientist, Arc is a digital publication for futurists about how technology will shape our future.
Data & Society Research Institute

In 2014 the Data & Society Research Institute produced five issue primers that examine the impact of several emerging technologies on work. Authors Alex Rosenblat, Tamara Kneese, and danah boyd explore 1) workplace surveillance, 2) networked employment discrimination, 3) intelligent systems and robotics, 4) technologically mediated artisanal production, and 5) fair labor practices in a networked age.
Lilly Irani

Professor Lilly Irani, University of California San Diego, is co-founder and co-designer of Dynamo, a platform for crowdsource workers to rate and review Amazon's Mechanical Turk employers. Lilly explores how networked communication technologies can be designed to support collective action by online workers as they face decentralization and shifting employer accountability.
David Autor

David Autor is a leading labor economist and professor at the MIT Department of Economics. His current fields of specialization include human capital, earnings inequality, and labor market impacts of technological change.
PWC Consulting

PWC's "Future of Work in 2022" report explores the changing business landscape, disruptive innovations, and the ways in which new technologies will impact business practice in the future.
Pew Report
"AI, Robotics and the Future of Work"

In 2014, the Pew Research Center's Internet Project published the report "AI, Robotics, and the Future of Work" which polled leading technology experts on digital life in 2025.
Gina Neff

Gina Neff is a sociologist at the University of Washington and expert on contemporary economics of media production and the political economy of communication by examining the relationship between work and technology in both high-tech and media industries. Author of "Venture Labor," which examines the risk and uncertainties borne by New York City's new media pioneers during the first internet boom.
Wanda Orlikowski

Wanda Orlikowski is a Professor of Management and Information Technologies and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Expert on the dynamic relationship between information technologies and organizations, with particular emphasis on structures, cultures, work practices, and change.
Judy Wajcman

Judy Wajcman is a sociologist at the London School of Economics and expert on the sociology of work and employment, science and technology studies, gender theory, and organizational analysis. Author of "Pressed for Time," which is about the acceleration of life in digital capitalism.
Steve Barley

Steve Barley is a Professor of Management Science and Engineering and the Co-Director of the Center for Work, Technology and Organization at Stanford University. Expert on technology's role in occupational and organizational change. Author of "Gurus, Hired Guns and Warm Bodies," which is about the knowledge economy.
Gideon Kunda

Gideon Kunda is a Professor in Labor Studies at Tel Aviv University and expert on organizational culture. Author of "Engineering Culture," about high-tech corporations.
Beth Bechky

Beth Bechky is a Professor of Management and Organizations at New York University. Expert on the micro-sociology of work including the interactions and dynamics at organizational and occupational boundaries.
David Stark

David Stark is a sociologist and Director of the Center on Organizational Innovation at Columbia University. Author of "The Sense of Dissonance," which is about how organizations and their members search for what is valuable.
Paul Leonardi

Paul Leonardi is a Professor of Technology Management at UC Santa Barbara. Expert on how companies create and share knowledge and on how implementing new technologies and harnessing the power of informal social networks can help companies create innovative products and services. Author of "Car Crashes without Cars," which is about simulation technology and organizational change.
Diane Bailey

Diane Bailey is a Professor of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. Expert on how people use information technology in their everyday work and what happens when they do including the social and organizational context of technology use.
Melissa Mazmanian

Melissa Mazmanian is a Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. Expert on the experience of communication technologies as used in-practice within organizational and personal contexts.
Mary Gray

Mary Gray is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research and Professor of Communication and Culture at Indiana University. Expert on how people use digital and social media including crowdwork and "immaterial labor."
Pamela Hinds

Pamela Hinds is a Professor of Management Science and Engineering and Co-Director of the Center on Work, Technology, and Organization at Stanford University. Expert on the effect of technology on groups. Editor of "Distributed Work," which is about geographically distributed work teams.
Woody Powell

Woody Powell is a sociologist at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Expert on how knowledge is transferred across organizations, the role of networks in facilitating or hindering innovation.
JoAnne Yates

JoAnne Yates is a Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Expert on communication and information as they shape and are shaped by technologies and policies over time. Author of "Structuring the Information Age," which is about information processing in the commercial sector and the influence of corporate users in shaping the history of modern technologies.
Shoshana Zuboff

Shoshana Zuboff is a Psychologist and Professor of Business Administration (retired) at the Harvard Business School. Author of "In the Age of the Smart Machine," which is about the distribution of power in organizations.
Nicholas Carr

Nicholas Carr is a writer about technology and culture. Author of "The Glass Cage," which examines the personal and social consequences of our dependency on computers.
Simon Head

Simon Head is an Associate Fellow at the Rothermere American Institute at Oxford University and Scholar at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. Author of "The New Ruthless Economy," and "Mindless," which are about work, automation and power in the digital age.
Ruth Schwartz Cowan

Ruth Schwartz Cowan is a Professor Emerita of History and Sociology of Science at University of Pennsylvania. Expert on the history of technology. Author of "More Work for Mother," which is about how the adoption of domestic technologies resulted in higher standards of cleanliness and shifted the burden of work from men and children to women.
Mel Gregg

Mel Gregg is a Principal Engineer in User Experience Research in Intel Labs. Expert on new models of labor and enterprise both within and outside formal workplaces. Author of "Work's Intimacy," which is about the impact of digital technology on the work and personal lives of professionals.
Melissa Cefkin

Melissa Cefkin is an anthropologist and manager of Discovery Practices group in IBM's Accelerated Discovery Lab. Expert on workplace ethnography including reconfigurations of work and labor related to new ways of conceptualizing, designing and executing work using open, crowd, and big data-driven practices.
Laura Forlano

Laura Forlano is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology where she is co-director of the Critical Futures Lab. Expert on critical approaches to emerging technologies, emergent forms of organizing and work and the socio-technical practices and spaces of innovation. She uses participatory and speculative design in order to engage diverse stakeholders in conversations and hands-on engagements that raise questions about alternative possible futures.
Jeremy Rifkin
author of "The End of Work"

Founder of Foundation of Economic Trends.
Farhad Manjoo
Contributor to Slate and Future Tense

Journalist for "Slate" on technology, works with "Future Tense" project as well.
Third Way Think Tank

Published report called "Dancing with Robots" calling for improved human skills for technological era.
Frank Levy & Richard Murnane
MIT & Harvard

Two leading technology and education researchers who think about technologies impact on the labor market.
The Atlantic Council
Robotics Impact

Released report "Rising Robotics and the Third Industrial Revolution" which investigates robotics impact on work, healthcare and other social issues.
Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technology

IEET's mission is to be a center for voices arguing for a responsible, constructive, ethical approach to the most powerful emerging technologies.
MIT Initiative on Technology and Self

The Initiative's goal is to be a center for research and reflection on the subjective side of technology and to raise the level of public discourse on the social and psychological dimensions of technological change.
Singularity University
Ray Kurzweil

Convenes future leaders, entrepreneurs, and technologists for 10 weeks to work on team-based technology solutions to widespread global challenges.
Jaron Lanier
Microsoft Technologist

Computer scientist and author of "Who Owns the Future" which lays out a vision for a new information economy that could benefit the middle class.
Co-Exist "Futurist Forum"

The website "Co-Exist" generates original content on the Future of Work through its online "Futurist Forum."
Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson
MIT

Co-Authors of the book "Race Against the Machine" and leading voices on technological unemployment. Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson are both based at MIT's Center for Digital Business.
W. Brian Arthur
Professor, Santa Fe Institute,
INET Fellow

Leading economist and technology thinker. He is best known for his pioneering work on positive feedbacks or increasing returns in the economy —what happens when products that gain market share find it easier to gain further market share— and their role in locking markets in to the domination of a single player.
The Work Revolution Summit
Co-Create The Future Of Work

This was a September 2013 invite-only session for startups, entrepreneurs, and futurists which aimed to completely re-design the way the business and tech sectors conduct work.

US Political Economy/ Business Practices, Culture & The Experience of Work

SEIU's 21st Century Blueprint Committee

In 2013 the Service Employees International Union established the 21st Century Blueprint Committee to explore future trends and develop long-term game-changing strategies to address increasing inequality and to increase workers' voice in the economy. The Committee has completed a future forecast in partnership with the Institute for the Future and will make its final recommendations in June 2015.
Kettering Foundation

In 2014 the Kettering Foundation published the report "The Future of Work: How Should We Prepare for the New Economy?"
Conservative Think Tanks
Web Content on Employment
and the Future of Work

Conservative think tanks like the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the American Enterprise Institute generate regular web content on the future of jobs, US employment, and trade.

Technology & Innovation/ Business Practices, Culture & The Experience of Work

Institute for the Future
"Future of Work" program

The Institute for the Future uses research and forecasting networks to assist organizations in anticipating trends on technology and work. In 2014 the institute hosted a Future of Work Summit and developed a series of strategic toolkits and graphic maps.
Forum for the Future

Under the leadership of Founder and Director Jonathon Porritt, the Forum for the Future conducts research and scenario planning on several issues and industries relevant to the future of work.
Intel's Tomorrow Project

In 2014 Intel worked with Futurist Brian David Johnson to crowd source thinking about the future with a focus on technology's role in it.
PSFK Labs
"The Future of Work" report

As part of PSFK's series of 'Future of' reports, a 2013 Future of Work report was published detailing business and technology trends in retail, health, and mobile commerce.
McKinsey Global Institute
Technology and Innovation

McKinsey researchers James Manyika and Susan Lund have published on global financial markets, labor markets, and economic growth. A 2012 publication includes: "Help wanted: The future of work in advanced economies."
Carnegie Mellon's Center for the Future of Work

This is an interdisciplinary research center created with a seed gift from Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Izabella Kaminska
Financial Times Blogger/Journalist

Reporter at The Financial Times that writes frequently on technology, robots and their impact on the economy.

Business Practice, Culture & The Experience of Work