The World Economic Forum predicts that 14 million jobs could be lost within the next five years due to factors such as technology, slower economic growth, and higher inflation. While technology will create 69 million new jobs by 2027, it will also eliminate 83 million existing jobs.
Workers worldwide are demanding better working conditions and wages, with protests and strikes increasing from eight cases in 2021 to 38 in 2022. Emerging sectors like AI and machine learning will create new jobs, particularly in India, but the world is not prepared for the labor market shift.
The majority of workers require training or skill updates, yet only half have adequate access to opportunities. As stagnant wages and rising inflation fuel worker anger, there is an urgent need for policymakers to address the job crisis and adapt to the disruptive impact of technology on the labor market.
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A new wave of disruption is on the horizon. The pandemic has disrupted everything. The war in Ukraine has broken globalization, and the next wave of upheaval will hit our jobs. Listen to this carefully: 14 million jobs could be eliminated in the next five years. That’s the prediction of the World Economic Forum.
They’ve published a survey just ahead of International Workers’ Day, also known as May Day. Workers around the world marched on the streets on May 1st. Today, in France, there were massive protests with one million workers on the streets. Many of them are opposing President Macron’s new pension policy, which we’ve been discussing on the show. What about the rest?
What are they protesting around the world? Women and men are marching on Labor Day to ask for better wages, better living standards, and better working conditions. But the job market is changing, and changing dramatically. We are in a period of disruption, and we have advanced warning, but are we prepared for what’s coming? Are we prepared for the loss of another 14 million jobs in five years?
The report I just mentioned surveyed more than 800 companies around the world, and this is what it found: Employers will create 69 million jobs by 2027, but they’ll also eliminate jobs. How many? 83 million. And the difference is 14 million. That’s the number of jobs that will be lost.
So employers will slash more jobs than creating new ones, and you know what will drive this change? Technology: artificial intelligence. It will change the workplace as we know it. It will have both positive and negative impacts. It will create jobs for those who can develop and manage AI tools.
It will also take away jobs like those that involve record keeping.
In fact, the World Economic Forum has made this prediction: it says 26 million record-keeping jobs are at risk and could be eliminated by 2027. So, technology will be a big disrupter, whether we like it or not, but it won’t be the only disrupter. The job market will also be hit by slower economic growth and higher inflation. Another major risk that stares us in the face is a redundant workforce around the world.
Six out of ten workers will need training, and 44 percent of a worker’s skills need to be updated. A lot of people do want to upgrade themselves, but they don’t have enough opportunities. Only half of the employees surveyed say that they have adequate access to opportunities. This is a global picture. What about India?
Well, India will not be insulated from these changes. The World Economic Forum report has a prediction for India too. It says the Indian job market will also see a churn. New jobs will be created in emerging sectors like AI and machine learning, so the shift is quite clear for everyone. The question is, are we ready for it?
And the short answer, I’m afraid, is no, we’re not around the world. Labor unrest is on the rise. Dock workers have staged workouts, rail workers and public servants are protesting. Ports around the world are witnessing agitations. Let me show you some data.
In fact, in 2021, there were just eight cases of protests and strikes at the world’s leading ports. Last year, this number shot up dramatically from eight. It went up to 38, that’s a jump of almost 400 percent. Why are so many workers angry? They’re deeply impacted by the growing inflation.
They say their wages have been stagnant for decades. They want a raise, and we’ve seen this before. In the 1800s, there was a series of protests from Germany to France, England, and the US. Workers had a single, simple demand. They wanted their work hours reduced.
They were working for 12 to 15 hours.
for the changes ahead.
“They wanted this reduced to just eight hours a day, which led to the first round of Mayday strikes in the U.S. The MayDay protest began with a bloody massacre.
1886 workers rallied in Chicago to demand fewer working hours. They assembled at Hay Market Square, but suddenly bombs went off and unknown attackers targeted the workers, leading to a massive riot. At least 11 people died. This event was a turning point in American history, leading to major labor reforms in the U.S.
over a hundred years ago. The job sector is dramatically different today. Sixty percent of the jobs in existence today were not even around in the 1940s, and it is now the year 2023. The world is at a similar crossroads. Today, we are witnessing fresh protests, but we do not have an immediate solution.
However, policy makers must act urgently, or they will have a new crisis on their hands: a crisis of jobs or joblessness. To be more precise, those who have a job want better wages, but the reality is that the companies that employ them are looking for ways to hire fewer people, and technology is driving this disruption. It is inevitable, and our best bet is to innovate and prepare for the changes ahead.”
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