[Insight & Opinion] Future Jobs and Promising Service Industries

Jobs are the biggest challenge our society must solve. Creating proper jobs is never an easy task, but I believe we must and can solve it. The more difficult it is, the more we need to return to basics and think fundamentally. Let us once again ask the basic question: "What are jobs or labor?"

The dictionary definition of labor is "activities for the production of goods and provision of services." Simply put, it is the activity of making goods and providing services. Making goods is called manufacturing, and providing services is called the service industry. As the economy advances, the proportion of the service industry increases. In advanced countries, the service industry accounts for 70-80%.

Even the service industry continues to change. Domestic and international experts point to health medical services and educational services as the most promising service industries in the future. There is reason to believe this. The biggest paradigm shifts of the 21st century are the longevity revolution and the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution. In response, health medical services and educational services, which are most urgently required, inevitably become more important and increase.

What other service industries will grow? I see them as the broad care service industry and the happiness service industry. Of course, health medical services and educational services can be included in the care service industry in a broad sense, as they mean caring for physical health and capacity enhancement. People care services that look after children, the elderly, and the disabled, as well as environmental care services that manage and care for local communities, the environment, nature, and aging facilities, also belong to the broad care service industry.

The ultimate goal of the service industry is expected to become the happiness service industry. The area of happiness services, which nurture individual dreams, health, and capacities, enjoy culture, arts, and nature, and foster freedom, autonomy, and the mind, will grow larger and more important.

Therefore, at the center of future jobs will be health medical services, educational services, care services, and happiness services. In our society, policy efforts to create jobs that align with future labor trends are already partially underway. Social service policies and care labor policies are examples.

However, current social services and care labor policies have a very passive vision. From now on, it is necessary to establish a much more active vision and future outlook and push forward more boldly. This is because what we currently call social services and care labor can actually become the core of future jobs. It also aligns with the ultimate goals of future service industries such as health medical services, educational services, care services, and happiness services.

Care Labor is the Best Future New Service Industry

Let us call this future labor collectively care labor. Active care labor can include much more than the traditional narrow care labor such as childcare, eldercare, and care for the disabled. Examples include human care labor that covers both physical and mental health, environmental care labor that looks after regions, environments, and facilities, and education and growth care labor. Care labor can expand its scope as much as needed. The future is truly a human-centered era.

Interpreted broadly and future-oriented like this, care labor will be the primary future labor and the best future new service industry. Facing a major transformation in jobs, I propose fostering promising service industries through future-oriented care labor and designing and implementing South Korea’s new job creation strategy and genuine human New Deal strategy.

Kim Hyungon, Director of the National Assembly Future Institute