Pradhan urges policy makers to focus on nature of future jobs

New Delhi: Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan Saturday called for a collective introspection on the changing nature of job profiles and urged policy makers to zero in on the nature of future jobs and their availability.

Public policy makers need to come to grips with changing nature of jobs and their availability, Pradhan said while releasing a report 'Future of Jobs in India-2.0 and Employer-led Models of Job Creation-Version:2' at 11th Global Skills Summit organised by Ficci here.

"Those responsible for fashioning public policy need to zero in on the nature of future jobs and where they would be available," he said, adding "the belief that technology and innovation were squeezing the job space was a myth".

While some jobs were being squeezed, a multi-fold increase was being witnessed in many other sectors due to technological innovation, the Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Minister said.

Internet, he said, was changing the character of the workplace at a frenetic pace, and therefore, policy shapers need to astutely comprehend the jobs scenario.

India is blessed with intellectual manpower, and the time was ripe to channelise this asset into creation of gainful employment for the people endowed with the right type of skills, he added.

T V Mohan Das Pai, Chairman, Ficci Skill Development Committee said India will witness 24 million people reach the age of 21 by 2025 and the challenge will be to absorb them in productively in the workforce.

Earlier, Chandra Mohan Patowary, Minister of Skill, Employment & Entrepreneurship, Government of Assam, underscored the dire need to impart industry-oriented skills to the wave of young people who join the workforce each year.

He stressed the importance of producing knowledgeable trainers to impart training to the youth in the emerging skill requirements of the country. Formal education, he said, was of little value in jobs of the future; it is the skills imbibed by the new entrants to the workforce that will stay with them and hold them in good stead.

Patowary, highlighted the skill development initiatives taken by the Assam Government in recent times, including collaboration with South East Asian countries such as Singapore, Korea and Taiwan for which it is entering into MoUs. Assam's 'Act East' policy was aimed at strengthening e-way, water-way and air-ways connectivity with the neighbouring countries as the state strives to become one of the most developed states in the country.