1 Read the following text about the future of work and match headings a-f to paragraphs 1-6. There is one heading you do not need.
a New industries
b The benefits for companies
c Potential for re-training
d The way things were
e Improved lifestyles
g Not everyone’s a winner
f Working for yourself
A job for life?
By 2020 whole careers will be wiped out and new ones created in a wave of technology. Make sure you can survive.
1 _____
Until recently in the UK, new employees would be sat down by an older colleague and quietly told the likely course of their career over a cup of tea. Junior Management might be followed by a spell abroad, an executive position and eventual retirement with a gold watch and pension. No longer. In the next 15-20 years new technologies will have as great an impact on the way we work as industrial changes in the nineteenth century had on our forefathers.
2 _____
The changes have already started. In the early 1890s, about 60% of jobs in the UK fell into three categories: farming, manufacturing and mining. In 2000 it was less than 15%. Staff who would previously have worked in manufacturing are now joining the new service economy and the world of information technology (IT). The economy of the future will consist of ideas, information and knowledge, and by 2015 it is estimated that as many as 95% of jobs will require people with IT skills.
3 ______
The first evidence of these changes is already clear. Fewer workers are needed to produce goods and services. Robots are starting to have a major impact in the workplace. In the future, more and more people will choose to become self-employed, working through the Internet, and selling skills in the marketplace.
4 _______
According to one expert, ‘Flexible working represents the future of work’. People working in areas such as sales, engineering and consultancy will be freed from the constraints of time and location. For workers this should mean less time travelling to work, more leisure time, a better match between work and family, reduction in stress and financial savings.
5 _______
Employers will gain too, saving office space and increasing efficiency. British Gas moved 5000 of its service engineers to teleworking in 1996, enabling the company to close 440 depots and offices. Engineers now keep in touch via laptops and mobile phones. According to a manager, there has been a noticeable increase in efficiency.
6 _______
But while those who move quickly to adapt will see rewards, many fear that there will be a growing gap between those who are technologically literate and those who are not, the ‘information rich’ and the ‘information poor*. So one way to ensure your future is to choose a career in an industry likely to boom, such as engineering, entertainment, or computing.

