2-Bn Youth Worldwide Risk Being Left Out Of Work
4 key recommendations to address the youth skills gap
Posted on 12-05-2018, Read Time: Min
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Is the global workforce ready for the rapid pace of emerging technologies ushered in by the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR)? From business to government, the answer has many concerned.
The 4IR is already transforming the type of work people do, and how it’s done, leaving many behind. And by 2030, an estimated 1.8 billion youth worldwide will not have the skills or qualifications required to participate in the workforce.
“Business has to play a leading role by not only defining and communicating what skills are needed in the future but also by working side by side with educators, governments and non-profits to ensure our future employees are receiving the education necessary to compete and succeed,” said David Cruickshank, Deloitte Global Chairman, at the launch of a new report conducted by Deloitte Global and the Global Business Coalition for Education (GBC-Education)
Entitled “Preparing tomorrow’s workforce for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, For businesses: A framework for action,” the new report found four skills emerge when looking at what will be required for individuals to succeed in 4IR:
- Workforce readiness: Basic skills such as time management, personal presentation, and attendance are critical.
- Soft skills: As humans increasingly work alongside robots, uniquely human skills, such as creativity, complex problem solving, emotional intelligence, and critical thinking will be irreplaceable by machines.
- Technical skills: New employment opportunities are being created through technology. Jobs that are currently going unfilled often require industry-specific technical skills and targeted training.
- Entrepreneurship: As the gig economy grows, youths’ ability to be innovative, creative, and take initiative to launch new ventures.
Financial investment alone will not employ 1.8 billion youth. Instead, new system-wide approaches are needed. Businesses currently make trade-offs between scale and impact, but this research suggests ways to achieve both. Overcoming the challenges of reaching the most marginalized youth, including women and girls, is also critical.
Within this landscape, there are four key recommendations to address the youth skills gap:
- Align stakeholders’ objectives and approaches: In order to achieve scalable results, businesses need to work with the broader ecosystem, implementing an integrated approach that leverages each group’s strengths and capabilities for impact. This includes coordinating opportunities, identifying gaps in training, finding opportunities for co-investment, and sharing information about future talent needs.
- Engage in public policy: Business has an opportunity—and role—to help governments prepare policies, rules, and regulations that will benefit youth and strengthen our future workforce. Dialogue, advocacy, collaboration, and influencing government are key means to drive results.
- Develop strong talent strategies: Reviewing and adapting current talent strategies will be important to future success, and developing best practices that promote inclusivity and innovation will be critical.
- Invest in workforce skilling: Employee training can no longer be a “check the box” activity, and business needs to evaluate, invest, and promote workforce training programs strategically so that future talent needs and requirements can be met.
“We are approaching the 4IR with optimism,” said Sarah Brown, Founder and Executive Chair of GBC-Education. “If we can find ways to enhance young people’s ability to harness these technologies through critical thinking and creativity we will lay the foundations of success for millions of young people.”
GBC-Education now plans to take the recommendations forward through its Youth Skills and Innovation Initiative by establishing an “Action Hub,” which will share information about programs that are working in the hopes that they can be scaled or easily duplicated.
At the heart of the issue is quality education and training, but there is now a framework for how to address the youth skills gap. Equally important, there’s a broad commitment across stakeholder groups and unlikely allies, led in large part by youth themselves, to bridge that gap.
Author Bio
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Jamira Burley is the head of Youth Engagement and Skills for the Global Business Coalition for Education. Working at the intersection of community, policy and social good, she was recognized by the White House as a Champion of Change and to Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Visit www.jamiraburley.comFollow @JamiraBurley |
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