New Zealand's Department of Labour wants a debate on what the nation's workforce will look like in 2020.

There's talk about technology and productivity as well as the evolving nature of work – and plenty on knowledge workers.

Discussing the programme in a government-run blog Mike Pearson writes:

“Yet to a large extent, current policy settings governing work, the workforce and the workplace assume a traditional employment relationship, characterised as “full-time jobs of indefinite duration at a facility owned or rented by the employer”.

That's not what I see.

Managers are pushing knowledge workers out of traditional company structures and are rehiring them as consultants, contractors and sub-contractors with all that implies for job security and the benefits of a conventional employer-employee relationship.

The change will give society and government an entirely different set of challenges.

I'm not saying moving knowledge workers out of traditional companies is good or bad. But it will have more impact than the government anticipates.