Report says social jobs grew at a slower pace than non- social jobs in India
New Delhi, NFAPost: Labour markets in India over the next five years are expected to witness a job churn lower than the global average, a recent report released by the World Economic Forum shows.
The report, “Future of Jobs”, which maps the jobs and skills in coming years and tracks the pace of change, says the Indian labour market will witness a 22% job churn, compared to 23% worldwide.
“Labour-market churn” refers to the expected job movement, including new roles being created and existing roles destroyed, as a proportion of current employment. This excludes situations where a new employee replaces someone in the same role. The report by the international advocacy group brings the perspective of close to 800 companies in 27 industry clusters and 45 economies from all world regions.
The churn in Indian labour markets will be led by technology-driven sectors like artificial intelligence and machine learning (38%), followed by data analysts and scientists (33%) and data entry clerks (32%).
On the other hand, labour-intensive sectors like accountants and auditors (5%), operations managers (14 per cent), and factory workers (18%) are expected to witness the least churn.
Globally the churn is expected to be led by supply chain and transportation, and media, entertainment and sports industries, resulting in the creation of 69 million jobs and a decline of 83 million jobs, leading to a net decrease of 14 million jobs, or 2% of current employment.
The tasks are seen as no more automated now than they were three years ago, when the report was last published.
“About a third of tasks (34%) are currently automated, just 1% above the 2020 figure. Surveyed companies also revised down their expectations for further automation, to 42% of tasks by 2027, compared to 2020 estimates of 47% of tasks by 2025,” it noted.
Besides, 61 per cent of the respondent Indian firms say broader applications of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards will drive job growth, followed by an increased adoption of new and frontier technologies (59%), broadening digital access (55%), and investment induced by climate change (53%).
In terms of the impact of technology on job creation, the report notes that 62% of the firms believe that big-data analytics is going to have the most significant effect, followed by encryption and cybersecurity (53%), digital platforms and applications (51%), and e-commerce (46%).
The report further notes India is among the seven countries, including Brazil, where social jobs — those in care, education and health care — which play a vital role in societal well-being and social mobility, grew at a slower pace than non-social jobs since the pandemic.
When comparing countries’ viewpoints on talent availability at the time of hiring, the report finds the most populated countries such as China and India are more positive than the global average. And in terms of business practices to improve talent availability, 52% of the firms think that improving promotion processes and talent progression is more effective than providing effective reskilling and upskilling (36%).
The report says 97% of the respondent firms in India are of the opinion that funding by their own organisation is the most effective strategy to fill the gap between workers’ skills and future business needs, whereas only 18% believe that training should be funded by the government.
