Robots exhibited at a Dongguan, Shenzhen based company

Technology is perhaps undeniably a great enabler of the times we live in – the hyper-connected, single-touch-point, fast paced world, which is increasingly becoming intolerant to human errors and thus a trend to automate activities which earlier seem to take hundreds if not thousands of man hours to complete take relatively less given the effect of automation. With Iot (Internet of things) the devices stand to get a higher power thus shorting the time taken by activates which took long. But the real question is how does it convert into employability?

While there will undoubtedly be a surge in jobs in the advance automation and data analytics there is bound to have a negative ripple effect on other low-end jobs which can be easily automated. The change is akin to what the world saw at the helm of Industrial Revolution where machines took the place of factory workers. The employment reports forecast by the World Bank suggest that technology would be affecting two-thirds of the world population across various sectors.

Abhijit Bhaduri, the former Chief Learning Officer of Wipro, and a leading HR professional, in his book Digital Tsunami, draws a parallel between the effects on the jobs by Digital Disruption as that of a real Tsunami. The ripple effect will not only be seen in the technology sector but also other sectors as technology becomes stronger and all sectors become ‘smarter’.

Then in face of the impending job crisis which would perhaps change the face of jobs forever, how should one still sustain? The answer lies in the ability to gauge the growing market trend and go through a “continuous learning” to keep the workforce abreast with the latest skill set needed in any given industry. Education is one sector which needs to keep pace with the latest changes and it has become a challenge to regularly modify the courses which make the skill set more marketable. Thus, there is a greater need of a paradigm shift in the structure of education. While there would also be a debate upon which style is best suited – didactic or open learning and can be implemented more effectively, there is a need for a more inclusive education system which focuses on building curiosity which in turn is needed for an innovative and ‘design-thinking’ world economy.

It is time when the emerging economies like India and China should come together and collaborate on issues which affects the future of their growing population and build a stronger foundation for the future. 

（Madhulika Ra Chauhan, is an author based in China.）