Automation, and it’s impact on the Indian job market.

Automation has been a serious worry when it involves work and jobs. A recent report released by the International Labour Organization (ILO) focuses on automation and its impact on employability. Let us take a look into what the report states about India.

What are the highlights of the report?

The report which was named “Changing Business and Opportunities for Employer and Business Organizations” lists the share of labor activities that will be automated using current technology. Within the case of India, 51.8% of activities will be automated. And the report points out: “Robotic automation has the best impact, replacing low-skilled jobs, and straightforward assembly tasks.” Japan and Thailand run the danger of 55.7% and 54.8%, respectively, of their activities being automated. Over 40% of activities are often automated across the planet. This is often clearly not excellent news for the employed.

Who is going to be hurt by this automation?

The report says automation will likely affect “most jobs involving highly structured physical activity in predictable environments, like manufacturing and retail, alongside data collection and processing”. Jobs that have some semblance of a routine are more at threat than others. Also, automation threatens to impact women over men, suggests the report. It points out that ladies “are an outsized component of the workforce in retail, business processing outsourcing, and textiles/clothing/footwear”. This is often primarily because automation threatens sectors where women form a serious a part of the workforce.

Also Read: How to save your job & grow during recession

What does the report say with respect to the Indian context?

An important point made by the ILO report is that 66% of Indian businesses are trying to find quite a different sets of skills among new recruits than they did three years ago.

What has been the effect of this around the world?

What is true about India is definitely true about other parts of the planet. Because the ILO report points out, “a large proportion of companies within the USA (61%), Brazil (70%)… and Germany (65%) agreed that companies are trying to find quite different skills in new recruits”. These businesses aren’t always ready to find candidates with the new skills. For 53% of Indian businesses it’s becoming harder to recruit people with the talents needed.

How does this impact India?

India has an unemployment crisis. And on top of that, what this report suggests is that India also has an employability crisis. Even when organizations have jobs on offer, they are unable to find candidates with the right skills who can be hired for these jobs. A major reason for this is in the fact that our education systems do not have the provision to adapt to changes at the workplace. This has resulted in another problem over and above unemployment.

Consult Us