Rising automation is changing job requirements, making advanced training essential for workers. The Mint Editorial Board said, "Policymakers need to fix the mess in our education and skilling systems on a war footing." As skill gaps grow in India, employers now need staff who can handle complex, modern automated workflows.
AI could displace some workers over time. But this process may be slower than AI marketers would have us believe. Other changes in the labour market deserve more attention.
Rising automation has raised demand for college-educated workers in the American manufacturing sector, The Wall Street Journal reported last week. Manufacturers have been hiring more white-collar workers in managerial roles even as blue-collar roles increasingly require advanced training to deal with complex automated workflows.
Even in the Indian labour market, the skill premium is likely to rise. Indian employers have been complaining about skill deficits for quite some time. Policymakers need to fix the mess in our education and skilling systems on a war footing.
Mint Editorial Board
The Mint Editorial Board is a panel of editorial writers with expertise across diverse domains of relevance to the newspaper’s opinion readers. The Board draws on long years of experience in business, financial and economic journalism, apart from other professional fields, although each member’s record of coverage, analysis and commentary would reveal far broader interests. This panel keeps itself in tune with the news as it unfolds and aims to reflect Mint’s views, but cannot claim a daily consensus on every issue of debate that matters. As a matter of routine, the Mint Editorial Board produces the newspaper’s Quick Edit, a snappy daily comment on pressing issues, and Our View, a full-length editorial on an issue that demands urgent attention. These are often matters of policy but cover a lot more, as readers may attest. The Board’s mission in expressing opinions, done in the spirit of a "nation in conversation with itself", is aligned with that of Mint: to be "an unbiased and clear-minded chronicler of the Indian Dream".
