Data science and digital coding could soon be the new English

What is the news?

World Economic Forum (WEF) recently came out with its report titled – The Future of Jobs.

Significance

The report tries to answer this question – will Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology take over our jobs?

Findings

• Double-disruption: Automation, in tandem with the COVID-19 recession, is creating a ‘double-disruption’ scenario for workers. While some businesses surveyed indicated that they are set to reduce their workforce due to technology integration, some have plans to expand their workforce. Some businesses also plan to expand their use of contractors for task-specialized work.
• By 2025, the time spent on current tasks at work by humans and machines will be equal. In 2020, humans did 2/3^rd of work and machines the rest; just five years hence, the human-machine split will be nearly equal.
• Job creation is slowing while job destruction accelerates. 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines, while 97 million new roles may emerge that are more adapted to the new division of labour between humans, machines and algorithms. So, humans still have an edge, although a narrow one. But the pace of job destruction is more than that of creation. So we’ll see more jobs lost before new jobs appear.
• The pace of technology adoption is expected to continue and may accelerate in some areas. The adoption of cloud computing, big data and e-commerce remain high priorities for business leaders.

Future scenario

Impact on jobs

• Jobs which will vanish: High optimization and low compassion jobs (like telesales, customer support and dish-washing) will be the first to go. Also, data entry, administrative, door-to-door sales jobs will also vanish.
• Jobs which will vanish, but after a long time: High compassion roles like those of CEOs, Merger & Acquisition experts and teachers will be last.
• Jobs which always be there: The jobs which will always be there for humans will require communication skills, empathy, compassion, trust, creativity and reasoning.

Tech jobs will dominate

• Future will be dominated by technology jobs like—data scientists, AI and machine learning specialists and digital transformation experts.
• As technology enters into our lives, jobs that enable humans to manage it will gain dominance.

Impact on India

In India, for generations, knowledge of English was the passport for the best jobs. Soon, data science and digital coding could become the new English.