A new pork processing plant going online in northwest Iowa is relying heavily on robotics and automation is becoming more common in all sorts of Iowa businesses. Ryan Osborn, president of Junior Achievement of Central Iowa, notes how some fast food restaurants now direct patrons to place their orders using touchpads instead of talking to a real person.
A new survey by Junior Achievement finds 77-percent of parents are concerned about their children’s ability to have a successful job or career as adults due to global competition and automation. The same percentage of teens surveyed had similar concerns. Many entry-level jobs we know today won’t be around in the next decade, Osborn says, and many of the jobs of tomorrow haven’t even been conceived yet.
The non-profit J-A of Central Iowa reached nearly 30-thousand students last year through a network of more than two-thousand volunteers in 29 central Iowa counties. Osborn says they focus on the core concepts of promoting financial literacy, instilling work readiness skills and inspiring entrepreneurship.
