Given concerns over the possibility of machines replacing humans at work, experts believe that if countries take the right steps, there will still be many opportunities to create jobs.

Workers are seen checking products at a company

This possibility has been discussed at length, but a recent report by ManpowerGroup used for the World Economic Forum 2019 in Davos, Switzerland, has painted a contrary picture.

In particular, 87% of businesses have plans to increase or retain their current personnel despite the application of technologies and automation. This is the highest figure in three consecutive years during which ManpowerGroup has reported on the issue.

The report on the impact of automation on jobs over the next two years surveyed 19,000 companies in 44 countries. According to the report, companies are increasingly introducing automation, which is promoting new kinds of jobs.

A notable point in the report is that many companies with automation in place still have plans for personnel recruitment. Meanwhile, 24% of the surveyed companies that expressed the intention of applying technology within the next two years wanted to have more employees, whereas only 18% of companies without technological applications intended to seek new hires.

The report also revealed increasing shortages of talent globally. Besides this, with the emergence of new skills, most of the surveyed businesses (84%) plan to train their staff further, compared with only 21% in 2011.

As the report indicated, the need for IT skills is rising, with 16% of businesses planning to employ more IT personnel.

In the manufacturing field where robots are replacing basic, repetitive jobs, manufacturing companies are in need of people who can work directly with customers. Therefore, in addition to IT skills, workers should equip themselves with interpersonal, leadership and negotiation skills.

Whether industry 4.0 is an opportunity or a challenge to labor markets depends on the adaptability of each country.

Valentina Barcucci, an expert at the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Vietnam, stated that businesses mainly buy technology for production. This has been seen in many areas, particularly labor-intensive sectors such as textiles and electronics manufacturing.

To keep their jobs, laborers need to be trained and to acquire new skills to operate the machines used in the manufacturing process.

According to Barcucci, the ILO’s recommendation involves lifelong learning. Learning should not be confined to schools but takes place throughout one’s life, particularly at work.

Vietnam should introduce a national program to ensure all laborers are trained throughout their lives, she noted.

Jonas Prising, chairman and CEO of ManpowerGroup, suggested that countries retrain personnel in declining sectors such as textiles as well as in areas with high growth such as network security and automation. If there is a focus on skills enhancement for laborers, machines can then be advantages for businesses and laborers.

Besides labor training in the official sector, laborers in the nonofficial sector should also receive attention. In Vietnam, the ratio of laborers working in the latter sector who are vulnerable still accounts for more than half the workforce.

Therefore, the ILO recommends that laborers get trained at work. Vietnam should adopt medium- and long-term strategies to help some 32 million vulnerable laborers obtain knowledge. This is a broad, sustainable growth strategy to cope with the unwanted effects of industry 4.0.

Another recommendation concerns investments in labor market institutions, including the ratification of eight core conventions of the ILO. These conventions suit new-generation trade agreements Vietnam has negotiated and ratified and help boost the sustainable development of the Vietnamese labor market.

SGT