WEF Future Jobs Report

Why in news?

World Economic Forum has released the Future of Jobs Report, 2018.

What does the report implies?

According to the report 75 million jobs will be displaced by disruptive technology.
133 million new jobs will emerge concurrently means that huge opportunities are up for grabs, but only for those prepared.
Sixty-nine per cent of Indian business leaders adopting intelligent technologies will be a critical differentiator.
While 84 per cent expect that AI-driven man-machine interface will add substantial value and improve efficiency.
Fifty-nine per cent worry about talent insufficiency being a major hindrance, and yet, only 29 per cent have earmarked investments for training.

What are the challenges faced by Indian Industries?

According to the official sources only 20 per cent of Indian business leaders believe their workforce to be AI-ready.
Indian companies has lack of engineers with new-age digital skills to address contemporary challenges, apart from the employees only few industries understand the emerging technologies.
As the contagion catches on, the supply mismatch will have to be addressed to remain competitive.
Many Indian companies are often unclear about the specific kind of training that’s required, periodicity or even the source of the content.
While a few Indian IT companies are progressing remarkably towards meeting the amplified needs in a very short time, they lag in a multi-pronged approach through a coalition of competitors.

What measures needs to be taken?

Given the magnitude of demographic dividend India need take measures in which government and academia join hands with the industry and discard the prevailing silos.
The fear of job losses will have to be de-fanged by new jobs creation and preparing the workforce appropriately.
Indian Industries need to re-skill 1.5-2 million people in the next three to four years which will require substantial investment.
Thus the fear-mongering narrative of job losses needs cleansing and to be replaced by a more realistic one of enhanced productivity, where robots and humans complement one another.

Source: Business Line

Quick Fact

World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum is the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
The Forum engages the foremost political, business and other leaders of society to shape global, regional and industry agendas.