Half of the jobs we have will vanish in a few years. Shocking but true. Our world is fast transforming thanks to the widespread use of internet and smart phones and the advent of intelligent machines. We have already seen how self-driven battery-operated cars have turned the transport and petroleum industries upside down.
An article by Jayant Mammen Mathew on Manorama on May 17 was a mirror to the contemporary realities. Change is inevitable. Our political leadership and universities have to do the groundwork to deal with that change. We have to be prepared politically and socially to accept that change.
We have no option but to live with large-scale job losses and to explore the opportunities. We have to keep pace with the changing times.
The job loss will primarily be in two sectors. Repetitive jobs that can be done by anyone will be the first to face the axe. Factory employees fall into this category. So are the beginner-level software code writers. They are at the risk of losing their jobs to automated processes and intelligent machines. Software has already taken over the process of simple code writing.
Another area to be affected is data collection and processing. This is what happens in banks. The clerks record the data on the cheque you submit, process it and move money from account to account. All these can now be done online. You do not have to go a bank branch. Banks are closing down their branches world over and discouraging services through branches by charging fees for them.
About 52 percent of all the jobs in the United States fall into these two categories. That is why McKinsey had forecast that half of the jobs would vanish by 2035. The job loss in the information technology companies is only the beginning of the change that awaits us in the next two decades.
This is where the government and the universities come into picture. Old courses have to be scrapped in favor of new ones. We need modern skill development training.
We have to be prepared to accept the change. There is no point in agitating against the changes. When a set of jobs disappear another set emerges. Efficiency and productivity will increase. Human resources could be utilized more effectively.
The information technology companies in the services sector are unlikely to go for large-scale recruitment anymore. But they will still increase their business and revenue.
There was a time when most of the jobs in the United States were in the agricultural sector. Now not even 5 percent of the workforce is in the agricultural sector. Like the shift from agricultural sector to the industrial sector and then to the services sector, jobs are moving to the digital industry.
We have to accept the inevitable change and brace ourselves for the change.
(The writer is the executive chairman of IBS)