# Monday Mining: The 80% Jobs Prediction, Ten Years Later
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“Some estimates suggest that 80% of today's jobs might not exist in the same form in just 10 years. What are YOU doing to reinvent yourself for that potential reality?” - Futurist Jim Carroll, from the vault: November 11, 2016. This is a new series I am running each Monday going forward - where I examine some prediction I made in the past, and see how things turned out. I speak and write a lot about the future of jobs and careers, and this observation from 2016 seems to bear a lot of relevance in the context of what is happening with AI today in 2026. So how does the observation play out 10 years later? The honest scorecard: jobs didn't vanish at anywhere near 80% like I suggested. What happened instead is closer to what the qualifier in my own quote said — 'not in the same form.' In 2026, more than 42% of business tasks are now performed by machines, and automation has displaced roughly 5 million jobs since 2025 by some counts. But the consensus among labour economists is now explicit: automation transforms roles far more than it eliminates them, shifting task composition toward judgment, creativity, and interpersonal skills. The scarier-sounding number got the headline in 2016. The more accurate word — 'transform' — was sitting right there in my own sentence the whole time. And this is particularly relevant now in the era of AI - after all, you won't be replaced by AI. But you will be replaced by someone who is better at using AI! This from a slide I often use on stage! Then vs. now: Right instinct, wrong verb. 'Not in the same form' turned out to be the more accurate prediction than '80% won't exist.' That's why it might be helpful to put this Daily inspiration post from years ago into your mind: If you examine your situation carefully, there is always an opportunity for you to be a new you! That's exactly what you should be thinking about now!

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Source: https://jimcarroll.com/2026/08/mondayminingthe-80-jobs-prediction-ten-years-later/