Brics Labour Ministers have heard at a summit on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast that clear and coherent government policies are needed to adapt to fast-paced change in the work place due to the fourth industrial revolution.
These changes are taking place against a backdrop of already high youth unemployment figures in most countries.
Call it the knowledge economy, the Gig economy or the fourth industrial revolution. The fact is that the workplace is fast changing due to an unprecedented rate of technological innovation.
The new worker is called a knowledge worker, is technologically astute and is normally armed with a smartphone.
KwaZulu-Natal Economic Development MEC Sihle Zikalala has told the opening session of a Brics Ministerial Summit on labour and employment that this economic block can be the vehicle to soften the impact of this revolution.
“We must collectively respond to the needs of re-skilling workers who stand at a potential of losing jobs once these technology is effected and therefore, we must look on how we ensure that our countries invest in broadband technologies and develop policies that must adapt, and realize even the provision of affordable data, especially for the workers and the working class as a whole. “
Addressing the Brics Ministers at Zimbali Lodge near Ballito on the KwaZulu-Natal North Coast, Zikalala has acknowledged that South Africa’s education is not currently up to the challenge.
“Because of the on-going innovation, as South Africa despite the massive investment that we have put in the education, the education system that is in place is still not producing the candidates that are in demand in the economy of this country. We need the education system that will produce enough software engineers, programme managers and entrepreneurs.”
Business Unity South Africa’s Kaiser Moyane says governments should provide a clear and coherent environment that will enable young people to step into new generation hi-technology jobs.
“We need policies that allow and encourage cooperation between employers, educators and governments in skills development. We need policies that allow for adaptability and agility in the labour market.”
Youth unemployment is a top priority for most countries in the world.
However, International Labour Organisation Director General Guy Ryder says 50 years after the adoption of a convention for equality in the workplace, women’s chances of getting a job are still 30% less than men. If they do get a job, it is usually at the bottom of the ladder and they still earn 20% less than their male colleagues.
Ryder, offering a possible solution, says, “Women today do the overwhelming part of unpaid care work and this often prevents them from entering paid work. And worldwide there is a very marked motherhood employment penalty for women with young children. The ILO estimates that a high road and professional care economy has the potential to generate no less than 159 million new jobs in your countries.”
The ministerial summit is expected to adopt a declaration and action plan that will focus, among other things, on unemployment and the new workplace.
