Question

• According to some social scientists and economists, automation is not the problem, the skills gaps is a better explanation for high unemployment among low-wage earners.

  • What are the two sides of the skills gap debate?

  • Which side do you fall on and why?

• Why isn't automation apart of the political conversation on unemployment as opposed to illegal immigration, given the number and job sectors affected by automation?

Answer 1

Skill gap is the mismatch between demand and supply sides in employment market. It is the gap between present or actual capabilities of the workers and skill needed by the organisation or company. If an employee does not have the skills to complete the tasks, the productivity of the company and quality of the employee may suffer. One side of the skill gap debate shows that it allows the company to identify the weak employees and prioritizing through efficient training resources. It allows the overall productivity also. On the other side, it may not be the most cost effective valuation method. Most of the small business entrepreneurs have low budget to do this kind of activities. There are two main issues emerged which paved way for the skill gap analysis; lack of employer sponsored training and lack of competitive wage. I will prefer the first one. It is considered as the most important concept. Increasing the employers training programme will enhance the productivity level and also improve the overall condition of the company. Competitive wage can be attained and imposed by high budget companies. This makes several changes and the entire development path of the company changed.
Automation leads to the displacement of many jobs, where the future will use different skills and also acquire higher level of development. High level of automation will affect the unemployment rate and it rose to a higher value. Artificial intelligence, data analytics and robotics were given by automation. The most important sectors which negatively affect the automation are agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, finance, healthcare, logistics, quality assurance, energy etc. The automation creates huge impact on employment level. This automation will also create demand for existing goods. Job in manufacturing industry and agriculture sectors were mainly affected. The new automation techniques were bew to the existing workers who have low skills about the new one.