What's the wrong question to ask about AI and jobs? "Are the machines going to take all our jobs?" Gareth Hetherington has a better one.

In this episode of Workplus, host Richard Kirk sits down with Gareth Hetherington MBE, Director of the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre, one of Northern Ireland's leading economists and the person behind some of the most important research on skills, demographics and the future of work in the region.

Gareth worked three jobs the summer after his GCSEs, fell in love with economics at A-level, built a career across the Northern Ireland Audit Office and PwC, and has spent the last decade producing research that has shaped how politicians, employers and universities think about skills and education pathways. His verdict on AI? It won't take your job. But someone using AI will.

Whether you're a parent, teacher, young person choosing your next step, or an employer trying to understand where the workforce is heading, this episode is packed with evidence-based insight delivered in a way that is anything but dry.

In This Episode:
— How working seven days a week at sixteen, in a bar, a landscape garden and a mayonnaise factory, shaped Gareth's career thinking
— Why economics was the first subject he ever fell in love with
— How a temporary civil service job led to a career in economic policy
— What the Northern Ireland Skills Barometer actually found, and why it matters for young people today
— The demographic challenge nobody is talking about: fewer young people entering the workforce
— Why the Saturday job is more important than ever for developing the skills employers actually want
— What transversal skills are and why employers now value them as much as technical qualifications
— The real question to ask about AI: not whether it will take jobs, but whether it will arrive quickly enough to fill the ones we don't have people for
— Why AI won't take your job, but someone using AI will
— What work gives Gareth purpose, and why he is not sure he ever wants to retire

YouTube Chapters:
00:00 - Opening quote: AI won't take your job, but someone using AI will
00:23 - Welcome to Workplus
01:02 - Working seven days a week at sixteen
03:33 - What those early jobs actually taught him
05:00 - Falling in love with economics at A-level
06:30 - Choosing a degree and going to Newcastle
08:11 - University and the start of a career path
09:00 - A temporary civil service job that changed everything
11:00 - The Northern Ireland Audit Office and becoming a qualified accountant
13:13 - Developing the audit nose
14:30 - Moving to PwC and economic policy work
16:25 - Joining Ulster University Economic Policy Centre
18:01 - What the research says to young people and parents today
19:00 - The Skills Barometer and the missing middle
22:17 - The demographic challenge: fewer young people in the workforce
25:00 - Transversal skills and what employers really want
27:24 - Why the Saturday job still matters
30:02 - People buy people, not products
30:56 - AI and the wrong question
32:20 - The machines won't come quickly enough
34:01 - AI optimism and productivity
38:39 - What happens when one door closes
41:57 - What is so good about work?

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#CareerDevelopment #AI #NorthernIrelandCareers #WorkplusPodcast #Economics #FutureOfWork #Apprenticeships #YouthEmployment #Skills

🎧 Thanks for listening to Workplus, the podcast that brings real jobs into the light.
🔗 Find more stories, tools, and guides to help young people and returners explore meaningful careers at workplus.app
📩 Know someone who would find this helpful? Share it with a parent, teacher, or future changemaker.
🎙 Follow so you never miss a story.

🎧 Thanks for listening to Workplus, the podcast that brings real jobs into the light.

🔗 Find more stories, tools, and guides to help young people and returners explore meaningful careers at workplus.app

📩 Know someone who would find this helpful? Share it with a parent, teacher, or future changemaker.

🎙Follow so you never miss a story.