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The fourth industrial revolution (4IR) is already upon us and to reduce the risk of displacing human workforce in a technology-dense environment, we need to up-skill, re-skill and focus on preparing the youth for a changing future.
On the second day of the World Government Summit (WGS) 2019 in Dubai, Angel Gurria, Secretary General of OECD highlighted the opportunities and challenges the world is facing in relation to the future of the economy in the age of 4IR.
"It is exciting, challenging, full of promise. But at the same time it has downsides. The secret is to focus on the promise and reduce the downsides," he said.
Looking specifically at the OECD countries; countries pitted as the most developed on a global scale, Gurria revealed some alarming home truths.
"Up to 14 per cent of the population today are in danger of being displaced by technology. Another third of the total workforce will be disrupted by technology in the next few years. People will feel over or under qualified and won't feel at ease in the tech-dense environment."
Speaking during a session moderated by Becky Anderson from CNN, Gurria said the questions we need tackle are: What do we do with the population at risk of losing jobs to technology? And what do we do to prepare the youth who have to thrive in future jobs that don't yet exist?
While there is no clear answers at present, Gurria said education plays a key role.
"We need to level the playing field and deal with the responsibility to protect the quality of life, jobs, and also the state too."
Speaking about the slow moving economy, he said during the "rather ominous events happening today" (referring to global trade tensions and Brexit among others), the OECD - in a period of just six months - dropped its forecasted GDP for 2019 by 0.5 per cent.
"About six months ago, we predicted that by the same period this year, the GDP would have grown by four per cent, but now we are saying 3.5per cent. Why did we shave off that half a per cent? Mainly because of trade tensions."
By doing that, the OECD confirmed that the global economy is in a "slow down", Gurria said.
"What changed in that six months? Everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Pressure on trade, particularly. People/organisations invest to produce, people/organisations produce to sell. If you don't think you can sell, then what happens is you don't invest. If you don't invest, the GDP suffers. Investment is the seed of tomorrow's growth. If you defer investment, you defer growth," he said.
Calling uncertainty a "killer of confidence", he said it is that which is impacting today and causing a slow down in the economy.
kelly@khaleejtimes.com
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