Machines are taking over your jobs. It's time to gain new skills

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has ushered a new hope for skills and employment through horizontal and vertical integration of value networks and blurring of the physical, biological and digital spheres. 

While rights activists often raise concerns about the growing unemployment due to 4IR, entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, like elsewhere, face ever-increasing challenges to keep pace with the global supply chain by incorporating modern machinery and running them with 60% of 'semi-skilled' workers remaining for the past two decades due to the lack of continuous training and up-skilling. 

Often, employers are reluctant to invest in workers' skills training for fear of their intra-industry migration, even when the technology changes demand it. More importantly, there is apathy among workers to take skill training as they can continue their jobs without doing so, resulting in an overall drop in the quality and quantity of workers' efficiency and production. 

In this context, all stakeholders must be aware of filling the skills gaps to maximise their demands and outputs. 

On the upper level, however, the impact of most technologies on jobs is expected to be a net positive over the next five years, according to the Future of Jobs Report 2023 by the World Economic Forum. 

The report says that big data analytics, climate change and environmental management technologies, encryption and cyber security are expected to be the biggest drivers of job growth. 

Now the question is, to what extent is our educated youth ready to exploit the opportunities? There is, in effect, no systematic data or projection regarding the number of graduates and the required workforce in various sectors. 

Anecdotal evidence suggests that university graduates from the social science faculties, in most cases, are oblivious regarding their future and career paths. 

The top 5% of fresh graduates want to be absorbed in research and academia, and the next 10 to 20% are inclined towards government jobs. The remaining graduates are uncertain about their future employment. Many opt for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), while some venture into business or pursue opportunities abroad. The picture shows a mismatch between skills, jobs and future planning among the educated segment of the employable population. 

Unlike their educated and skilled counterparts, unskilled and less educated individuals face higher opportunities for recruitment abroad but lower opportunities for settlement. In the past few decades, Bangladesh has become one of the largest sources of foreign workers in the Middle East. Labour migration has become a pillar of national development because of easing unemployment and balance of payment. 

In 2023 alone, more than 13 lakh people migrated for employment primarily as less skilled (73%) workers. Nonetheless, the record shows that while the number of migrants increased manifold over the years, the skills did not.

Consequently, only a tiny fraction of Bangladeshi men and women have been able to reap the benefit of 4IR abroad, leaving others to fulfil the dirty, dangerous and demanding jobs only. Media and other reports abound on the level of vulnerability of unskilled workers at various stages of their migration. Moreover, the migration policies of the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries rarely allow family unification and permanent residence of unskilled and semi-skilled workers, implicating the return of these workers after the term ends. 

The solution, therefore, lies in skilling up the workforce and preparing them for decent and well-paid jobs at home and abroad. Enhancing skills increases migrants' prospects of filling out the much-needed positions in developed countries, including the US, Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe, which have workers' deficits and would require foreign workers to meet the demand in the service and other sectors. 

Over the past few decades, many youths have migrated abroad for higher education, employment and settlement. Freshly graduated doctors find their fortunes in the United Kingdom, with engineers, IT professionals and bio-technologists in the US, Canada and Australia. 

In contrast, Europe recruits people of diverse educational backgrounds to fill their needs. However, foreign employment in the professional category was less than 1% of the total job seekers. There is also a high likelihood of settling abroad among educated and skilled job seekers. State-level initiatives and interventions should be made to explore labour markets in these countries for skilled and professional Bangladeshis. 

Now, the question is, what should be done for skill enhancement? The government has already taken various measures that include reviewing the curriculum at different levels of education, modernising the technical training centres (TTCs), and improving the infrastructure for training. 

Private sectors and associations have also advanced their resources to set up training centres and standardise skills. International organisations such as ILO have also extended their technical support and expertise to help their constituents to skill up workers. Yet, shreds of evidence show the problem persists. We are still unable to produce skilled workers aligned with market demand. 

Regarding foreign employment, despite many discussions, the exploration of a new labour market is not happening as expected. Individuals rely heavily on brokers or syndicates to seek a job abroad rather than actively preparing them for jobs. They are reluctant to skill up themselves due to the high demand for low-skilled workers in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Workers familiar with the language or the work somehow go abroad and survive. 

This may look positive in the short term, but in the long run, the people and the state suffer as the overall quality declines or remain unchanged for generations, leading to stagnant remittances. Workers frequently face exploitation due to lacking decent work opportunities in low-skilled work. The government has taken the initiative to recognize intermediaries, a commendable step that enhances accountability. However, instilling a sense of responsibility among migrants and encouraging them to pursue overseas opportunities after receiving proper skill training is crucial.

Challenges also lie in matching the demand and supply of skills. As mentioned earlier, no central mechanism or information services are currently active to accurately determine the demand for workers in specific trades in different countries and notify and send appropriately trained individuals to meet this demand abroad. Additionally, the successful recognition of the skills of returnee workers and their re-employment has not been effectively achieved.

Last but not least, the quality and standard of skills is another area which needs attention. The training of female domestic workers is a case in point. While they are going abroad as 'skilled workers' with compulsory skills training, their overall skill level has not improved. Women reported that they found much of the equipment they were trained with obsolete in the country of employment. 

The foreign languages they are taught are sometimes ineffective and disconnected from real-world situations, which increases their vulnerability to abuse. There is, therefore, a pressing need for more practical language training for all outbound workers. A comprehensive overhaul of the skill training process is essential if we aim to reap the benefit of the 4IR wholly.

The author is a migration expert and professor of the Department of International Relations at Dhaka University.