Skill Letts
VIEWS , VOICE & WAYS OF SKILLS
An in house journal of Additional Skill Acquisition Programme
SKILLOPATHY – Is Mechanization a threat to employment !
Senthil Kumar ( SPM )
In recent months two things surprised me , one was the Victory of Donald Trump as 45 th President of America and next revealing of the Indian IT giant “ Infosys ” that it had fired 9000 employees because of introduction of Artificial Intelligence in low end jobs . The second for me an unusual piece of information because in last two decades IT industry is hiring people in large numbers and now is it reversal of that trend . They have started automation in lower end Jobs , which is an indicator of wave of change happening in the Industry and employment .
The victory of Donald Trump according to pollsters is largely attributed to the anger and support of jobless , blue color white men who were less educated and unskilled or semi-skilled . Many lost Jobs in last few years due to shifting of manufacturing from America to Latin America , China and India where labor is available at low cost . As Trump promised , even if he bring back the manufacturing in few years from now to America it will be a more automated and jobless manufacturing . Considering the trend of automation in industry particularly in automobile industry , it is likely that the promise of Mr . Trump will be an empty one .
In 20 th Century world over economic growth happened due to increase in output and creation of Jobs . But the future will be different , there will be economic growth but proportionately with little jobs . We must understand that Artificial Intelligence is changing business and blue color jobs will never be available in large enough scale in India , America or elsewhere . In future any country cannot afford to give jobs or grow with uneducated and low skilled population be it India or America .
" The Nobel Prize-winning economist Wassillie Leontief states that ' the role of humans as the most important factor of production is bound to diminish in the same way that the role of horses in agricultural production was first diminished and then eliminated by the introduction of tractors '."
In my village a women ’ s cooperative printing press started during the year 1993-94 with around 10 women ’ s from socially backward section . The press was using labour oriented process in composing and printing . It was a success somehow until 2000 . In the first half of 2000 the decline started due to introduction of offset printing technology in nearby areas as it was convenient , faster and cost-effective . The women ’ s printing press completely stopped business in 2003 , around 15 lakhs investment of Government went idle and women were job less in 10 years . Jobs in services industries from personal and household services , automation of more routine sales roles , such as cashier and telemarketers , and from prefabrication of buildings to construction jobs , jobs which are routine and repetitive are likely to be substituted by computers .
February 2017 Page 10