About 65 percent of the current generation’s children entering school today will hold jobs that don’t currently exist, according to Guillermo Luz, a member of the Apec Business Advisory Council.
Luz said in a statement the figure was based on the RMIT University research project which looked at the impact of digitization on existing and future jobs. The results were reported in this year’s meeting of Apec business leaders.
The study noted that a third of present skill sets would be replaced by 2020, and 375 million workers would have new occupations by 2030.
Digital innovation is a part of the council’s four-point agenda which it pushed in Apec meetings in Port Moresby.
“Harnessing digital innovation is the key to the future economy, and for the Philippines this means leveraging on our human capital through education and training,” Luz said.
The advisory group said the current and future workforce should be digitally literate and proficient.
This is critical for industries like information technology-business process management to remain competitive and help the sector gear up for higher value-adding services such as knowledge process outsourcing and big data analytics.
The advisory group also said that students and workers should know how to work with current and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain to take full advantage of the digital economy.
ABAC Philippines said innovations in education and training such as micro-courses and virtual programs could provide the needed skills for tomorrow. These would give students flexibility to learn and acquire competencies in trending and upcoming skill areas, it said.
“We already have a large, young and educated population. We must build on this by having long-term investments in our educational system and vocational training programs. This will require the government to work closely with the industry and the academe to design curriculum and handle implementation and placement services,” Luz said.