Talent shortage in the 4th industrial revolution

For those who don’t already know it, we are living in the midst of the 4th industrial revolution (IR) The 4th IR, as characterised by a fusion of technologies in the physical, digital and biology domains, is all around us and evolving at a rapid pace. Online applications and stores are disrupting traditional brick-and-mortar businesses such as travel agencies, bookstores, clothing outlets… AI can now beat mind games world masters, annotate videos, help schedule appointments and more… just to name a few of 4th IR’s impact.

Individuals relying solely on their undergraduate education and on a single focus domain or skill set, while viable in the previous IRs, could soon find themselves unemployable in the long run. In fact the world economic forum has estimated that on average a third of the skill sets required for today’s job will be wholly new by 2020.

So what can we do now and what are ‘future-proof’ skillsets ?

Individuals need to constantly upgrade themselves and embrace lifelong learning. People already in the workforce need to get connected to the job roles and skills required for our digital economy now.

In the future, according to world economic forum, all job roles will require linguistic, mathematical and technological literacies. The ability to make inter-disciplinary connections, based on sufficient breadth and depth knowledge of different subject areas, is a crucial skill. We also need to develop global citizenship values, including empathy and character and non- cognitive employability skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, project management and creativity.

Talents with all these skillsets are still in short supply. There is almost no domain untouched by changes brought about by the 4th IR. To incentivise its workforce to build 4th IR skillsets and embrace lifelong learning, many countries such as Singapore, offers skills grants and/or are building support training infrastructure. For those who have not embarked on this learning journey, there’s never been a better time to start, than TODAY.