Erica Orange's blog

Clearly, the world is reeling from the inability of young people to find jobs. It is not at all surprising to hear that many college graduates are struggling to find and keep jobs immediately after graduation. As these twenty-something’s return back from their summer vacations and hit the job pavement, many more are finding that their hard-won diplomas no longer guarantee immediate employment.

Historically, the Internet was always about connecting people – through e-mail, picture- and video-sharing, online dating sites, and the like. But as we move into a more interoperable, multidimensional and connected world, the Internet is increasingly about connecting things.

Clearly, the recent economic meltdown has impacted the employment landscape. Part of this is the shifting nature of internships, and a rethinking of what constitutes an "intern" in the emerging new economy.

Communities used to meet in town squares to buy, sell and swap goods. For a while, that model all but disappeared, but thanks to a host of new social networks and other web platforms, people can now trade, swap, rent or barter goods, skills, services or expertise with considerable ease.

Over the last week, people around the world have been instantly struck by unbelievable scenes of turbulence in Egypt, as thousands have taken to the streets to protest against the current political regime. In recent days things have gotten even uglier, too: American journalists have been assaulted, Molotov cocktails have been launched, and rocks and furniture have been hurled at protesters.

The emergence of a global “She-conomy” will have a major impact on everything from education to marketing and branding to fertility levels. There are already many more women than men enrolled in and graduating from universities. Women have just overtaken men in the U.S. as the majority in the workforce.

Many of the exact generational boundaries describing the 30-and-under population have been poorly defined, and terms are oftentimes used interchangeably. For example, terms like “Millennial” sometimes are used to describe portions of what is considered “Generation Y”. For the purpose of this blog, I am focusing solely on the under-18 population.

As the world enters the next stages of technological revolution, what we are beginning to unravel about the universe is rapidly propelling us to the frontiers of the unknown. Now, and in the years to come, all of our bodies of understanding will be profoundly changed. What we did, what we made, what we believed and what we valued are all undergoing fundamental transformation.

Locally and globally, we continue to see that the nature of jobs is profoundly changing, and what we do in order to earn our incomes, and how we do it, will never be the same. Importantly, none of this will ever again conform to what were the norms or rules or expectations across companies or through the years.

There has been a lot of talk in recent years about outsourcing – the movement of work to other entities and other places. The most contentious part of that issue was offshoring – the movement of work and jobs to other countries. However, the real issue for the future is othersourcing – the increasing ability to have work done not only off-site and by other entities, but by non-humans.