The 4th industrial revolution is coming at us at lightning speed. The million-dollar question is how it will impact on society. The performance of the labour market and the extent to which it can mobilize all talents in society will be key to this. An integrated approach addressing Individuals, Employers, Education and Regions is the way forward.
Meanwhile, we observe a number of challenges that impede the responsiveness of the labour market to current and future trends.
The 4th Industrial Revolution has a specific effect on Micro SME’s with 2-19 employees as they do not have an HR infrastructure, they do not offer Appraisals and do not have Lifelong Learning in place. This is affecting 40-50% of the total labour force (in Africa and India this effects estimated 60%+ of the total labour market).
Labour contracts have become more flexible over the years and this trend is expected to increase in the coming years. As a consequence of this development, every individual has to work actively on their ability to stay economically relevant and to generate a decent income.
The way formal education is organized hampers its ability to respond to changing demand for labour across all sectors of the economy. This is true globally.
The public sector is faced with different challenges on the labour market that prevent them from mobilizing all talents and assets in their regions. Be it underemployment, legacy software systems, or data availability, these problems lead to an underutilization of talents in the region and is a hindering factor in economic development.
