Profession 'will be outsourced' in 30 years

Accountants in the UK could all be out of a job within the next generation, according to a Princeton professor.

The dynamics of globalisation will mean that many jobs currently regarded as highly skilled will in time be done more cheaply when outsourced, leaving many traditional professions – lawyers, accountants and journalists – out of work well before their careers end, according to Professor Alan Blinder, a well-respected US economics professor.

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Professor Blinder said: 'Lawyers involved in family disputes, and criminal lawyers - they've got to stay around. But lawyers that write contracts, and lots of accountants; maybe that kind of education is not such a fabulous idea. Educating people to go into what I call the personal services is a good idea - some of which don't require all that much education - so electricians, carpenters, plumbers, roofers - skilled trades.

'This is a very new thought for the highly-educated, white-collar class to think that they may have to compete with low-wage foreign workers. Manufacturers have been doing that for generations. But accountants, lawyers, intellectuals?'

Further reading:

Read the Telegraph interview

Alan Blinder's webpage