LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has predicted that 9-to-5 jobs will go extinct by 2034, and people will rather participate in the gig economy.
In a video making the rounds on X (formerly Twitter), Hoffman explained how he sees industries changing in the coming years and how traditional jobs may be replaced.
“You may not only work at multiple companies; you may work at multiple industries. Industries are changing, and your own path changes. You may not actually, in fact, do a lot of your work fully as an employee. You may actually be working in a gig economy, or you may have two or three gigs,” he said.
The gig economy means working with various companies across different sectors under contract. In simple terms, he envisions more people doing freelance work instead of sticking to traditional roles. Hoffman said this will create more opportunities but also bring uncertainty.
In 2023, the Writers Guild of America went on strike, claiming that several companies had created gig economies inside of a union workforce. There’s also a looming threat from AI tools like ChatGPT, one such tool helps people “cheat” during job interviews.
Hoffman's past predictions are spooky:• Predicted social networks would change the world (LinkedIn sold for $26B)• Saw the sharing economy coming (Early Airbnb investor)• Called the AI revolution years before ChatGPTSo we should probably listen to his latest prediction: pic.twitter.com/7CzIyMuRiO
— Neal Taparia (@nealtaparia) July 24, 2024
“All of these things are the directional changes of what we’ve seen in the workforce for the last few decades. And it does create a lot of opportunities,” he said.
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“It does create a lot of productivity. But it also creates a lot of uncertainty, and people like stability. And so one of our challenges is we figure out is how do we minimize a little bit of the uncertainty.”
The video was shared by X user Neal Taparia, who also highlighted Hoffman’s previous accurate predictions about the rise of social media in 1997.
The number of people doing full-time traditional jobs is already less than 42% in the US, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
We’ve already been seeing a shift towards remote work, flexible hours, and a desire for individuals to have more control over their careers. So, it won’t be surprising to see more people moving towards freelancing. According to Upwork’s 10 annual study, Freelance Forward: 2023, freelancing hit an all-time high.