New PARADIGMS. New HORIZONS

Let’s set aside some of the troubling stuff – the wars, the viruses, the crime, all of the unhappiness out there.

Let’s be positive, hope for the best and take a look at some changes the experts say will define the future – new parameters that will determine how and where we live and work.

First the view from 20,000 feet.

Everything got a bit more crowded in 2023 as the United States, the planet’s third most populous country, added 0.5% more people and the world overall grew at 1%, reaching a population milestone of 8 billion people. The United Nations estimates that it will increase by nearly 2 billion over the next 30 years and peak at over 10 billion sometime in the 2080s.

Why the continuing growth? Improved health driven by gains in medicine, nutrition and hygiene. Or so say the experts. Global life expectancy is now about 73 years, 76 in the United States according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with women outliving men by nearly 6 years.

Within the United States, demographic projections show ethnic Whites continuing to decline and Hispanics and Latinos continuing to grow. With that will come more diversity in politics and government. No big surprise.

What about the workplace?

What does the future hold in store?

Several trends, some expected, some not.

First off, working from home at least 2-3 days a week is here to stay for a good many jobs. Two of my working children have been doing that since before COVID. A Stanford University study showed remote work saved commuters $5,000-6,000 a year and reduced a lot of angst. According to WFH Research, 1 in 3 Americans now work at least part time away from the office.

One of the byproducts is that a staggering 20% of United States office space is now vacant, although not so much in Florida where robust business growth continues to fill the space.

But wherever people work, they’re grumpy. A BambooHR analysis of 57,000 employees showed job satisfaction was in the toilet, the lowest in years.

Why? Not clear, but it probably has something to do with higher prices wiping out salary gains everywhere. Surveys uniformly show that workers want more pay – not prestige or promotion or even security. That’s not so important anymore. Wages are everything.

My daughter, a working mom who’s a manager at a Fortune 500 corporation, says company loyalty is a thing of the past. Job jumping is common. Money is what matters.

How about living quarters? What kind of abodes should we look for in the future?

Although this might not apply in affluent coastal Florida, much of the rest of the country will see big changes in housing. Simply put, think small. Bigger isn’t better. Owning will decline as incomes get squeezed, and renting will become the default, according to the Wall Street Journal. And renting will be a long-term choice, a conscious lifestyle change.

If you can’t afford big or if you’re a migrant, you may have little choice. It’s small or nothing. A Zillow report says this has already begun. Reduced affordability is forcing the middle class into smaller, even tiny homes – a bifurcation depending on your earning status.

Amazon advertises pint-sized sheds as full-time residences. Zoning changes are allowing more living units to be crammed into single lots. Furnishing specialists are designing miniature appliances and petite beds and sofas.

Love it or hate it, it’s coming and it’s less than a decade away. For much of the country, most new housing will have to be affordable, an unexpected and, perhaps, welcome outcome.

These are some of the new paradigms. And we haven’t even begun to talk about artificial intelligence.

Dr. Trecker is a chemist and retired Pfizer executive living in Naples.