Is work dying?

moneycontrol.com:

Recently, I read ‘The Last Question’, a short story by Isaac Asimov, and I cannot help but draw a parallel with what is currently happening in the world of work.

I get it. I sound vague.

Let me explain.

The story opens with the sentence, “The last question was asked for the first time, half in jest, on May 21, 2061, at a time when humanity first stepped into the light…” Now, I am not going to tell you what the last question is—for that you must read the short story—but let me tell you what the uniform response to the last question is: “Insufficient data for a meaningful answer,” and that neatly summarises the present situation in the world of work. Why do I say that?

I am sure some of these headlines/ articles have caught your attention lately:

- All of Those Quitters? They’re at Work.

- Majority of India’s 900 million workforce stop looking for jobs

- The new brain drain: Indian Web3 startups flock to Dubai amid regulatory uncertainty, stiff taxes

- Wave Of Layoffs At Startups Foretell A Slow Summer For Venture Investing

- Gen Z does not dream of labour

Read in isolation, these headlines perhaps are eyebrow-raising, but not enough. Read collectively, and after having spoken to people on the ground, a pattern starts emerging. Some bare threads of the pattern being

1) people/experts not wanting to join full-time roles

2) massive layoffs and uncertainty

3) employees quitting en masse when asked to return to office

4) GenZs preferring to either start their own businesses or work in Web 3.0, but not full-time in companies.

The larger forces being a looming recession, the labour force dilemma and brain drain (if interested, do catch up on the links to understand these phenomena better).  Slowly, you see what I am saying? I almost feel like