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Future Tense

Future Tense

Chaitanya Kalbag

The author is former Editor, Reuters Asia, Editor-in-Chief of The Hindustan Times, and Editor of Business Today

More From The Author >> Will we get our act together, or continue to middle in middle-income mediocrity? Photo Credit : Reuters, So let’s see: 2018 is supposed to be a good year for India. We have low inflation, the monsoon may be normal, manufacturing is finally picking up, salarymen (and -women) are looking at good pay rises, and a litre of petrol costs as much as it takes per day to keep our poorer compatriots above the poverty […]

At least 25% of jobs in Southeast Asia may be automated in next 2 decades – ILO

At least 25% of jobs in Southeast Asia may be automated in next 2 decades – ILO

‘Lower-skilled jobs in labor-intensive sectors will be increasingly displaced by technology that is cheaper and more accessible,’ says the International Labour Organization REPLACED? The International Labour Organization reported at least a quarter of jobs in Southeast Asia may facer automation in the next 2 decades. Photo by Hoang Dinh Nam/AFP MANILA, Philippines – At least 25% of jobs in Southeast Asia may be automated in the next two decades, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO).

ILO reported that workers in low-skilled, labor-intensive sectors, may be displaced by technology which has become increasingly accessible.

“It is estimated that at least a […]

How to reverse the trend of jobless growth

How to reverse the trend of jobless growth

India experienced decline in jobs due to a reduction in contract workers (nearly 70,000 were retrenched in the first half of FY16, compared to 161,000 additions in the first half of FY15). In a jobless growth economy, unemployment remains stubbornly high even as economy grows. This may be because a relatively large number of people may have lost their jobs or new members entering the workforce are much higher than jobs available. In India, the latter seems to be the case, thereby obstructing the benefits of growth from reaching the masses. While analysing the paradox of jobless growth, I […]

Meet Astrid Keusseyan, a self-described lab ‘nerd’

Meet Astrid Keusseyan, a self-described lab 'nerd'

WILMINGTON — Astrid Keusseyan is happy to dispel the myths that come with her job as administrative coordinator of laboratory and pathology services at New Hanover Regional Medical Center.

"When I tell people I work in a hospital, they ask, ‘Are you a nurse or a doctor?’ " she said.

Like a lot of jobs, television rarely gets hers right, Keusseyan said."It’s not a bunch of test tubes with blue liquid in them," she said.You know the image of a technician painstakingly peering at one slide after another in a microscope? Nope. In the NHRMC lab, dozens of images are displayed […]

Skills for the future: not as technical as you think

Skills for the future: not as technical as you think

In order to address job displacement, Southeast Asian countries have had a renewed focus on skills development. Specifically, skills development in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). It seems not a day passes without an announcement of a major technological innovation – from driverless cars to robots serving food in restaurants.

It is in the workplace that technology is having an increasingly transformative impact. New and possibly disruptive technology such as 3D manufacturing and retail drone deliveries are changing the nature of our workplaces. This technology presents all kinds of opportunities. New sectors will emerge. New jobs will emerge. Moreover, […]

The role of automation in the aging workforce

The role of automation in the aging workforce

Image Credit: 85Fifteen / Unsplash America is getting older . The Administration on Aging estimates that the segment of the United States population age 60 or older will increase to 22.2 percent in 2020. This change — driven by increased longevity and the demographic bulge of the baby boom — represents the biggest percentage point increase in the over-60 that America has ever seen. But what does this mean from an employment standpoint?

In the United States, a deep and youthful labor pool has been a differentiator for many years. In addition, there has been a real focus on ensuring […]

Will automation create jobs, or destroy them?

Will automation create jobs, or destroy them?

Asia’s experience shows that good jobs and wages reduce poverty. (Image Credit: ADB) In an era of sweeping transformations, one of the most important has been the dramatic reduction in poverty in developing Asia. Since 1990, more than one billion people have escaped extreme poverty, and many of them now earn a decent wage.

These workers are more productive and therefore earn higher salaries. Often they’ve left subsistence agriculture for better-paid jobs in modern industry and services – where 30 million new jobs have been created annually in the past 25 years.

Advances in technology have fueled this transition. From the […]

Truth, not myths should prevail over China-U.S. trade

Though repeating a lie creates the illusion of truth, yet myths, unlike the plain truth which is sustained by fact, can’t stand the test of time.

Washington has been adept at blaming other countries for its domestic woes and its recent trade offensive against China, to some extent, also falls into this category.

The Trump administration claims that since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, the United States has lost more than 60,000 factories.However, a quick fact-check will show that the reality is something else. Statistics indicate that the decline in U.S. manufacturing jobs is more of a […]

If You Read One Higher Ed Book This Year, Make it ‘Robot-Proof’

If You Read One Higher Ed Book This Year, Make it 'Robot-Proof'

Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence , by Joseph E. Aoun (MIT Press, 2017)

It is not an accident that I’m putting my review of Robot-Proof in "Inside Digital Learning ." My goal is to drive maximum awareness of this book among anyone thinking about the future of higher education.

Aoun, a linguist who also happens to head Northeastern University, makes the case that our economy is on the cusp of enormous change. He is largely supportive of the argument that accelerating improvements in the bundle of technologies that comprise artificial intelligence (sensors, processing, big data analysis) will […]

As automation threatens employment market, a look at the jobs that will be displaced

As automation threatens employment market, a look at the jobs that will be displaced

There is no denying that automation related job losses are in the news nowadays and they are also a reason for worry for many employees who are constantly concerned about their future in a rapidly changing work environment.

It is true that new technology creates jobs but automation will also hurt workers who are into routine and manuals jobs, according to an Asian Development Bank report.

The report added that new jobs will appear, but they may require skills that such workers do not possess. Further, as firms and industries adjust to new ways of producing and distributing goods and services, […]