Empowering skilled workers

How will labour market trends respond to global shocks? | Trade in Transition (economist.com)

Technology adoption is key to overcoming business disruption and saving costs in the long run, according to a new Economist Impact report.

In the report, How will labour market trends respond to global shocks?, Chatham House research fellow David Lawrence says: “Low wage, low skilled labour is less important than it used to be and actually what’s more important is your ability to create your own technology, and that depends a lot more on high skilled labour.”

As well as overcoming disruption and saving costs, technology adoption reduces human error while allowing firms to focus on core business activities, he adds. David Lawrence also points out that labour shortages in the UK due to Brexit have led to a high level of technology adoption.

Technology adoption is often presented as a double-edged sword, says the report — “on the one hand raising productivity and on the other hand reducing labour demand”, but Economist Impact modelling estimates an appreciable increase in employment levels in all regions this year, except for the Middle East.

Demand for skilled and unskilled labour is predicted to increase by 3.5% in Europe, 1.85% in North America and 1.96% in Asia Pacific in 2023.

“Where we find that under the right assumptions further technological adoption can lead to further job creation, the opposite can also be true. Much is down to how businesses design and deploy technology. For example, if employees are not adequately trained to make use of new technology, its full benefits will not be realised.”

Dr Rafiq Swash, founder and CEO of Aidrivers, says: “Autonomous automation in ports will deliver new, highly skilled jobs for a sustainable career. This will align with the aspirations of the new generation, who are looking for much more than ‘traditional’ repetitive, manual and often harsh environment.”