The CSIRO’s ‘Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce’ report is an important foundation for policy makers grappling with the future of work in Australia. The findings of the report underpin the work already being undertaken by the Department of Employment to address the impact of rapid technological development, new business and employment models, increasing globalisation and social change on employment and workplace relations. 

The analysis of the megatrends outlined in ‘Tomorrow’s Digitally Enabled Workforce’ is a solid base for the development of future-focused strategies to enable people and organisations to take advantage of emerging opportunities – including promoting entrepreneurship, facilitating participation in the online economy, and encouraging the development of new business models. We are looking to policy settings that enable current and future generations of Australians to be well-positioned to support themselves and contribute to our economy and society.

This report marks the beginning of an era of immense change in Australia. The future holds exciting opportunities for the way we work, consume and interact, and also poses some policy challenges. People who work in highly structured environments or who lack high level interpersonal skills may be particularly vulnerable to their jobs being automated. We need to get the policy settings right so that workers who lose their jobs due to automation have access to other streams of work.