Md Sala Uddin Salman :
This is the age of automation. One after another ever new technologies are emerging. In the net result, the old fashioned jobs have been wiping out successively. As technologies grabbing the jobs of the non-skilled, semi-skilled, skilled manpower, it works as catalytic of joblessness.
Re-skilling is one of the talked-about topics of present days. Specifically, if we give a look on the least developed or developing countries around the world, we will surely see the transformations of skills around different spheres. Because of the innovation of new techniques, machinery, tools, apparatus; the necessity of manual labour has been degenerating day after day.
Industrial revolution brings massive alternation in production process. The first industrial revolution innovated water and steam engine to boost up production system. Electric energy was utilized for large scale production system in the second phase of industrial revolution. Automation in production with the assistance of electric and information technology was initiated in the third phase of industrial revolution. Digitalization, automation, artificial intelligence, machine learning and many other specialized technologies have been thrust into production operations, business and everyday life.
According to the report of OECD (2018), a sample of 32 countries was taken in its study, whereas 14 percent of the existing jobs will absolutely evanish and additional 33 percent will be dramatically deflected. This report also infers that low income countries are much more vulnerable than any other countries. Scandinavian countries are less vulnerable in terms of jobs loosing because of lower percentage of automatable manufacturing jobs.
Illustratively, in Bangladesh, there are lots of people who are expert in radio repairing, but they are losing their customers as the circulation of radio has been growing feeble. Even though old fashioned television repairers do not know how to repair a new fashioned one as the using of new elements, such as, circuits have been used in a traditional television and LED television having great differences.
Another noticeable issue is the formation and propagation of endemic and ubiquitous multinational corporations and trans-national corporations. Because they are gurgling the sectors like furniture, show-pieces making, handlooms, and other small and cottage ventures. A carpenter who once upon a time made furniture, their livelihood has been riveted by large enterprise like Otobi, RFL, PARTEX, NAVANA and many other companies. A handloom labor who once weaved clothes but presently becoming unemployed due to the extinction of local handloom industries.
World Economic Forum (2016) has enlisted 10 most cabbalistic skills that will be essential to gain ground in the fourth industrial revolutions. These are complex problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, human resource management, coordinating with others, emotional intelligence, judgment and decision making, service orientation, negotiation, cognitive flexibility. Are these aforementioned skills compatible with our existing education system? Do we have proficient educators or trainers who can substantialize those requirements?
Re-skilling is one of the most potential sectors having $154 billion strong information technology industry for the challenging future. It is estimated that it will be reached in $350 billion by 2025. But in this sphere the form of jobs have been changing gradually as new forms of technologies are emerging. Which is why learning, unlearning and relearning from different dimensions can be a better solution (NASSCOM, 2017).
HR specialists from different arena infer some important considerations for re-skilling. These are as follows: *In-house functional training program by trainer; *Outsourcing agency to re-skilling to the mass people; *Cross functional training by employee exchange programs;*Skill development by direct monitoring;*Creating the opportunities of value addition coaching; *Providing incentives to achieve managerial proficiency; *Quality improving coaching by short term value addition for long term goal. (Nayak Sasmita, 2018)
It is very much disquieting that no mentionable large-scale alteration has been achieved after the termination of 6th Five Year Plan except reduction of poverty in some extent. Though our GDP growth rate is more than 7 percent, inequality has been increasing in a great extent. In 2018-19 FY, it is expected that GDP growth rate will be reached at 8.13 percent. If the job loosing rate increases, or new job opportunities have not been created, a large number of people will surely be fallen into livelihood crisis. As the time goes by, government as well as NGOs can play important role to pull up the prevalence of job loosing.
As the essentiality of specialization has been increasing day by day, being proficient in soft skills and technical support for newly invented machines will pave the way to make it feasible to envisage automation and artificial intelligence (AI). As most of the workers of Bangladesh are not literate enough, they are not aware enough about the changing patterns of jobs. This is why the extent of awareness programs needs to be increased. And it is demand of the time to invest more and more to re-skill and up skill the manpower to achieve sustainable growth. That will without doubt be able to create more and more job opportunities for the imminent people who will enter into job markets in the coming days.
(Md. Sala Uddin Salman, post-graduate student of Dhaka University, worked as a Research Assistant with diversified national and international organizations)
