As jobs change, what's our line?

Some might joke that "the future is approaching faster than ever before", but the impact of change on full-time work has been pronounced in recent years, and is poised to become even more so, writes Roger Trapp.

This development is creating - in classic business school language - both opportunities and threats. For the self-motivated and in-demand, the idea of portfolio careers offers a release from the shackles of large organisations, while for those who are less fortunate and less confident it means a loss of security.

Last week the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce launched "Redefining Work", a project devoted to examining how individuals, businesses and society in general will be affected. Through "a wide-ranging debate, an Internet conference and a series of seminars", it aims to identify "the gaps which no one is addressing" and to set about producing an agenda for the policymakers.

This report will be published next year. But in the meantime "Redefining Work" - under the direction of Valerie Bayliss, a former director of youth and education policy at the Department for Education and Employment - will be commissioning individual studies into certain areas.

Ultimately, the project is seeking to answer seven questions, including: Will jobs go on changing? Will there be enough jobs to go around? Do we need new forms of work for the future? How do we prepare our children for this different world? And if jobs for life are dead, how do we pay our way?

Ms Bayliss says: "If there really won't be enough jobs to allow everyone a conventional 40-year, 40 hours-a-week working life then few will be unaffected - businesses as well as individuals.

"Less work means less income means less purchasing power, with incalculable consequences. The issues are complex and too often ignored. The focus for debate needs to move on to possible solutions."