Design Capitalism: Design, Economics and Innovation in the Auto-Industrial Age

• Automation is eliminating white-collar office jobs and routine mid-tier employment.
• Advanced economies are shifting from post-industrialism to auto-industrialism.
• Future jobs will have a creative, problem-solving component.
• Design is a model for future employment in an automated economy.
• Use of pattern, shape and form is a key factor in non-routine jobs that resist automation.

Automation is replacing white-collar office work and non-dexterous manual work, causing major structural change in the job market. As advanced economies shift from a post-industrial to an auto-industrial model, all kinds of routine work is being replaced by machines. Mid-range job opportunities are shrinking, and labor markets are polarizing. Demand for dexterous service work nevertheless remains strong, as does demand for abstract labor working with patterns rather than with rules or procedures. Design is a mid-tier occupation that is growing rather than declining. “Design” is also a metaphor for abstract labor of all kinds; it exemplifies work that is creative, innovative, problem-solving, and reliant on judgment rather than rules. Heightened demand for abstract labor reflects the evolving nature of capitalist economies. The contribution of invention, ingenuity and imagination to the creation of economic value continues to expand. The auto-industrial era is coeval with design capitalism; together they represent a key dimension of future economics.