WEF report on ‘The Future of Jobs’ Digital skills one of key areas of growth in coming years

Our correspondent

ISLAMABAD: The World Economic Forum in its recent publication 'The Future of Jobs' has identified digital skills as one of the key areas of growth in the coming years. The digital skills have also been termed as the essential key to the jobs of tomorrow. E-commerce and digital trade have emerged as the top priority for technology adoption among companies in Pakistan. 91pc of the companies have identified it as the most essential skill set required in the next five years. Big data analytics and cloud computing emerged as the second and third most desired digital skills. Online learning and training is on the rise but looks different for those in employment and those who are unemployed. The report highlights that there has been a four-fold increase in the numbers of individuals seeking out opportunities for learning online through their own initiative, a fivefold increase in employer provision of online learning opportunities to their workers and a nine-fold enrollment increase for learners accessing online learning through government programmes. Those in employment are placing larger emphasis on personal development courses, which have seen 88pc growth among that population. Those who are unemployed have placed greater emphasis on learning digital skills such as e-commerce, digital trade, data analysis, computer science and information technology. As per the understanding signed between Mishal Pakistan, the country partner institute of the World Economic Forum and Extreme Commerce, the quality of training will be benchmarked, and new opportunities will be created for ecommerce and digital trade in Pakistan. Extreme Commerce is offering more than 50 ecommerce and digital skills courses in Pakistan, with emphasis on specialized training on digital trade through international platforms like Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba, etc. Extreme Commerce, the leading digital and ecommerce skills organization in Pakistan, has played a vital role in training professionals to create entrepreneurial skill sets and generate additional jobs helping them earn sustainable income through freelancing. In the last three years, they have introduced more than 500,000 individuals to the global ecommerce opportunity through their platforms. On the signing of this partnership, the Founder of Extreme Commerce, Sunny Ali, said, “We have a commitment to empower our youth with the tools and knowledge, so they can champion and to create the businesses of tomorrow. This will not only generate livelihood for our youth but also develop an ecosystem for e-commerce and digital trade to thrive in the country.” He further said, “We have set a benchmark for Pakistan to train one million people in more than 50 digital-skills, with a special focus on e-commerce and digital trade related training.” Amir Jahangir, Chief Executive Officer ofMishal Pakistan, the Country Partner Institute of the World Economic Forum, said, “The future ofwork has already arrived for a large majority of the online white-collar workforce”. He further said, “Eighty-four percent of employers globally are set to rapidly digitalize working processes, including a significant expansion of remote work—with the potential to move 44pc of theirworkforce to operate remotely”. Jahangir said, “To address concerns about productivity and well-being, about one-third of all employers expect to also take steps to create a sense of community, connection and belonging among employees through digital tools, skills and to tackle the wellbeing challenges posed by the shift to remote work”. On average, companies estimate that around 40pc of workers will require reskilling of six months or less, and 94pc of business leaders report that they expect employees to pick up new skills on the job, a sharp uptake from 65pc in 2018. The Future of Jobs Report of the World Economic Forum identifies that online learning and training are on the rise but looks different for those in employment and those who are unemployed. There has been a four-fold increase in the numbers of individuals seeking out opportunities for learning online through their own initiative, a five-fold increase in employer provision of online learning opportunities to their workers and a nine-fold enrollment increase for learners accessing online learning through government programmes. Those in employment are placing larger emphasis on personal development courses, which have seen 88pc growth among that population. Those who are unemployed have placed greater emphasis on learning digital skills such as data analysis, computer science and information technology. In its third edition, The Future of Jobs report maps the jobs and skills of the future, tracking the pace of change. It aims to shed light on the pandemic-related disruptions in 2020, contextualizedwithin a longer history of economic cycles and the expected outlook for technology adoption, jobs and skills in the next five years. The Future of Jobs survey is based on the projections of senior business leaders (typically Chief Human Resource Officers and Chief Strategy Officers) representing nearly 300 global companies, which collectively employ eightmillion workers. It presents the workforce planning and quantitative projections of chief human resource and strategy officers through to 2025, while also drawing on the expertise of awide range ofWorld Economic Forum executive and expert communities. The report features data from LinkedIn, Coursera, ADP and FutureFit.AI,which have provided innovative newmetrics to shed light on one of the most important challenges of our time. Extreme Commerce is a leading professional training provider of digital skills for running and managing global and local ecommerce businesses. It offers training programthat ensure ecommerce businesses have smooth and profitable run. It has fully trained professionalswith experiences and expertise in digital trade and successful ecommerce businesses. Mishal Pakistan is Pakistan’s leading strategic communication and design company, is the country Partner Institute of the Future of Economic Progress System Initiative, World Economic Forum. Mishal is responsible to generate primary data on more than 150 indicators measuring Pakistan’s competitiveness. Mishal’s foremost domain of activity is behavior change communication, strategic communication with a spotlight on media and perception management.