Vocational training and lifelong learning are central pillars of employability & employment of workers
Vocational training and lifelong learning are central pillars of employability & employment of workers
Technological changes in the World of Work
The future of work is rapidly changing with technology and digital transformation disrupting traditional systems of workforce engagement and needs. The 4.0 revolution impacts the future of manufacturing as well as the service providers. While governments prepare for the new disruptive economy to regain competitiveness under robotisation and the growing digital labour platforms, we advocate for these technological advances to go hand in hand with decent work.
Jobs are the foundation of our social and economic lives.Technological changes tend to disrupt the employment levels and occupational patterns. It is therefore, important to ask what influence technology, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) have on where we work and how we work? Will we need to work at all?
Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic
growth and social development for any country
At a time when skills gap is a major concern across the world, investing in skill development has never been so important. Governments across the world are focusing on the significant role vocational education and training plays in their countries’ futures. Statistics speak for India’s disproportionate skilling challenge. It is estimated that approximately, 104 million youth will be in need of skilling by 2022. Further, barely five percent of India’s total workforce has undergone formal skill training
When compared to developed economies such as the US, Japan, Germany and South Korea, India has a long way to go before it can be at par with industrialized nations. Therefore, in order to reap the benefits of a demographic dividend, India must recognize and cultivate the potential of young people and close the gap between the demands placed on young people and the opportunities provided to them. While we see the demographic resource to aid our country’s economic development, the world sees it as a huge market and a potential global workforce
EY reported that the future of jobs in 2022 in India will be determined by the country’s response to the inevitable impact created by the interplay of three primary forces – globalization, demographic changes and the adoption of technologies by Indian industries
The impact of these three primary forces is expected to be disruptive on sectors such as IT-BPM and BFSI and relatively lower on core manufacturing sectors such as apparel and leather perspective.The primary forces will have significant impact on jobs through a combination of new jobs and the requirement of new skill sets
Need to accelerate job creation to sustainably respond to
the demographic surge
India’s labour productivity lags due to prevalence of low productivity businesses and absence of skilled manpower. The wide disconnect between industry and academia continues to spin out less trained employees for jobs. The skill gap is unmistakable and there is a real danger of our huge but untrained workforce becoming a demographic drag.
The digital future of work will be disruption. This needs to be managed carefully and transparently by business, government and stakeholders in collaboration. The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) analysis of the future of work use cases across 12 industries reveals that twothirds will augment the worker or create new roles. In this era of rapid and widespread technological change, being human is more valuable than ever.
Looking to the Future in a Positive Way
Numerous research reports on the future of jobs and skills have implications for education systems,employers, and individuals. Vocational training, learning and development programmes emerge as the key requirements to upscale today’s workforce. Needs of the different stakeholders is presented below:
For Education Systems
Moving beyond generic definitions of ‘21st century skills’: Education systems need to support teacher
teaching and assessment of the future skills.
Developing pedagogies to support knowledge & skill development: Educational institutions to extend support to educators to teach the new skills. Need for training of teachers and upgrading infrastructure in educational institutions.
Adapting to the changing needs of the labour markets: Forward thinking and keeping pace with the changing labour market needs and demands will ensure a successful future and better employment opportunities for the youth of India. Cognitive skills coupled with domain training are a step closer to the Skill India Mission.
Offering flexible and adaptive pathways: As the pace of change accelerates, learners will have to learn in order
to earn. Although there will always be some demand for traditional brick-and-mortar experiences, more learners will want accelerated & flexible pathways, such as certifications.
For Employers
Redesigning roles to balance technology and human resources: The path to maximizing productivity will be through the effective use of technology to supplement unique human skills. In education,technology supplementing (not supplanting) the educator to personalize learning. This will be true in many other industries as well and employers will need to proactively redesign the jobs most at risk.
Moving beyond the college degree for increased employability: As education systems offer more flexible and adaptive pathways for learners, employers will also need to learn how to identify and develop talent. Youth will have to be made job ready For Individuals.
Develop skills that are uniquely human: With the advancement of automation and artificial intelligence individuals will need to focus on developing the core human skills, such as content skills, cognitive skills,process skills and social skills.
Commit to lifelong learning and reskilling: The pace of economic change guarantees that a single degree earned years ago will not be everlasting.