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2014 is a very special year for me:
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20 years as a consultant,
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20 years of marriage,
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and I'm turning 50 in one month.
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That means I was born in 1964
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in a small town in Germany.
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It was a grey November day,
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and I was overdue.
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The hospital's maternity ward
was really stressed out
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because a lot of babies were born
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on this grey November day.
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As a matter of fact, 1964
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was the year with the highest
birth rate ever in Germany:
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more than 1.3 million.
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Last year, we just hit over 600,000,
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so half of my number.
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What you can see here
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is the German age pyramid,
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and there, the small black point
at the top, that's me.
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(Laughter) (Applause)
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In red, you can see the potential
working age population,
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so people over 15 and under 65,
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and I'm actually only interested
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in this red area.
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Now, let's do a simple simulation
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of how this age structure will develop
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over the next couple of years.
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As you can see,
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the peak is moving to the right,
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and I, with many other baby boomers,
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will retire in 2030.
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By the way, I don't need any forecasts
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of birth rates for
predicting this red area.
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The red area, so the potential working age
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population in 2030
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is already set in stone today,
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except for much higher migration rates.
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And if you compare this red area in 2030
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with red area in 2040,
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it is much, much smaller.
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So before I show you
the rest of the world,
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what does this mean for Germany?
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So what we know from
this picture is that labor supply,
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so people who provide labor,
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will go down in Germany,
and will go down significantly.
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Now, what about labor demand?
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That's where it gets tricky.
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As you might know, the consultant's
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favorite answer to any question is,
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"It depends."
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So I would say it depends.
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We didn't want to forecast the future.
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Highly speculative.
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We did something else.
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We looked at the GDP and
productivity growth of Germany
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over the last 20 years
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and calculated the following scenario:
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if Germany wants to continue
this GDP and productivity growth,
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we could directly calculate
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how many people Germany would need
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to support this growth.
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And this is the green line: labor demand.
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So Germany will run into a major
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talent shortage very quickly.
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Eight million people are missing,
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which is more than 20 percent
of our current work force,
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so big numbers, really big numbers.
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And we calculated several scenarios,
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and the picture always looked like this.
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Now, to close the gap,
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Germany has to significantly
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increase migration,
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get many more women in the work force,
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increase retirement age.
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— by the way, we just
lowered it this year —
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and all these measures at once.
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If Germany fails here,
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Germany will stagnate.
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We won't grow anymore. Why?
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Because the workers are not there
who can generate this growth.
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And companies will look
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for talents somewhere else.
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But where?
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Now, we simulated labor supply
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and labor demand
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for the largest 15 economies in the world,
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representing more than 70 percent
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of world GDP,
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and the overall picture looks like this
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by 2020.
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Blue indicates a labor surplus,
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red indicates a labor shortfall,
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and grey are those countries
which are borderline.
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So by 2020, we still see a labor surplus
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in some countries,
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like Italy, France, the U.S.,
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but this picture will change
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dramatically by 2030.
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By 2030, we will face
a global work force crisis
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in most of our largest economies,
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including three out of
the four BRIC countries.
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China, with its former
one-child policy, will be it,
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as well as Brazil and Russia.
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Now, to tell the truth,
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in reality, the situation
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will be even more challenging.
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What you can see here
are average numbers.
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We de-averaged them
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and broke them down
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to different skill levels,
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and what we found
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were even higher shortfalls
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for high-skilled people
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and a partial surplus
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for low-skilled workers.
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So on top of an overall labor shortage,
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we will face a big skill
mismatch in the future,
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and this means huge challenges
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in terms of education, qualification,
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upskilling for governments and companies.
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Now, the next thing we looked into
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was robots, automation, technology.
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Will technology change this picture
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and boost productivity?
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Now, the short answer would be
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that our numbers already include
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a significant growth in productivity
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driven by technology.
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A long answer would go like this.
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Let's take Germany.
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The Germans have a certain
reputation in the world
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when it comes to productivity.
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In the '90s, I worked in our Boston office
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for almost two years,
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and when I left, an old senior partner
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told me literally,
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"Send me more of these Germans,
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they work like machines."
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(Laughter)
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That was 1998.
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Sixteen years later, you'd
probably say the opposite.
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"Send me more of these machines.
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They work like Germans."
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(Laughter) (Applause)
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Technology will replace
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a lot of jobs, regular jobs.
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Not only in the production industry,
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but even office workers are in jeopardy
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and might be replaced by robots,
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artificial intelligence,
big data, or automation.
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So the key question is not
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if technology replaces some of these jobs,
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but when, how fast, and to what extent,
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or in other words,
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will technology help us
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to solve this global work force crisis?
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Yes and no.
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This is a more sophisticated
version of "it depends."
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Let's take the automotive industry
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as an example,
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because there, more than 40 percent
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of industrial robots are already working
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and automation has already taken place.
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In 1980, less than 10 percent
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of the production cost of a car
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was caused by electronic parts.
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Today, this number is more than 30 percent
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and it will grow to more than 50 percent
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by 2030.
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And these new electronic parts
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and applications require new skills
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and have created a lot of new jobs,
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like the cognitive systems engineer
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who optimizes the interaction
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between driver and electronic system.
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In 1980, no one had the slightest clue
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that such a job would ever exist.
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As a matter of fact,
the overall number of people
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involved in the production of a car
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has only changed slightly
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in the last decades,
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in spite of robots and automation.
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So what does this mean?
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Yes, technology will
replace a lot of jobs,
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but we will also see a lot of new jobs
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and new skills on the horizon,
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and that means technology will worsen
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our overall skill mismatch.
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And this kind of de-averaging
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reveals the crucial challenge
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for governments and businesses.
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So people, high-skilled people,
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talents, will be the big thing
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in the next decade.
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If they are the scarce resource,
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we have to understand them much better.
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Are they actually willing to work abroad?
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What are their job preferences?
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To find out, this year we conducted
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a global survey
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among more than 200,000 job seekers
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from 189 countries.
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Migration is certainly one key measure
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to close a gap, at least
in the short term,
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so we asked about mobility.
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More than 60 percent
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of these 200,000 job seekers
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are willing to work abroad,
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for me a surprisingly high number.
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If you look at the employees aged 21 to 30
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this number is even higher.
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If you split this number up by country,
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yes, the world is mobile,
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but only partly.
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The least mobile countries
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are Russia, Germany, and the U.S.
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Now, where would these
people like to move to?
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Number seven is Australia,
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where 28 percent could imagine moving to.
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Then France, Switzerland, Germany,
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Canada, U.K., and top choice worldwide
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is the U.S.
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Now, what are the job preferences
of these 200,000 people?
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So what are they looking for?
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Out of a list of 26 topics,
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salary is only number eight.
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The top four topics
are all around culture:
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number four,
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having a great relationship with the boss;
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three, enjoying a great work-life balance;
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two, having a great
relationship with colleagues;
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and top priority worldwide
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is being appreciated for your work.
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So do I get a thank you?
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Not only once a year
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with the annual bonus payment,
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but every day.
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And now, our global work force crisis
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becomes very personal.
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People are looking for recognition.
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Aren't we all looking for recognition
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in our jobs?
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Now, let me connect the dots.
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We will face a global work force crisis
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which consists of
an overall labor shortage
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plus a huge skill mismatch
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plus a big cultural challenge.
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And this global work force crisis
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is approaching very fast.
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Right now, we are
just at the turning point.
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So what can we, what can governments,
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what can companies do?
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Every company,
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but also every country,
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needs a people strategy,
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and act on it immediately,
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and such a people strategy consists
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out of four parts.
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Number one, a plan
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for how to forecast supply and demand
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for different jobs and different skills.
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Work force planning
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will become more important
than financial planning.
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Two, a plan for how to
attract great people:
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generation Y, women, but also retirees.
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Three, a plan for how to educate
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and upskill them.
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There's a huge upskilling challenge
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ahead of us.
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And four,
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for how to retain the best people,
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or in other words,
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how to realize an appreciation
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and relationship culture.
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However, one crucial underlying factor
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is to change our attitudes.
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Employees are resources, are assets,
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not costs, not head counts,
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not machines, not even the Germans.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)