Technology and The Future of Work Implication In India
Principal Researchers:
Professor Alakh N. Sharma & Dr. Balwant Mehta
Theme: Growth and Employment
Sponsor: Wits University
Assignment : Exploratory Study
Aims and Objectives: The research aims to explore how digital technologies are transforming the world of work in India, analyze the increase in skilled jobs and the decrease in unskilled occupations due to automation, and examine the impact of new platform work on employment and working conditions.
Methodology:
The study involved an analysis of secondary data, supported by an extensive literature survey. This approach provided a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter through existing research and data sources.
Findings:
- Digital technologies are increasingly present in several sub-sectors of industrial and services sectors, though not yet widespread.
- Rise in skilled jobs and a decline in unskilled occupations due to automation.
- Emergence of platform work, creating temporary and non-standard work systems with short-term relationships between workers and companies.
- New economic opportunities for informal workers entering the labor market through platform work.
- Lack of formal social protection mechanisms for platform workers, reproducing informality and potentially deteriorating working conditions.
- Platform and gig workers now included in national labor codes, a positive step towards decent working conditions.
- Gig workers and platform workers require compulsory online registration on an online portal to access benefits, with conditions related to age, days worked, and possession of documents like Aadhaar card.
- Absence of a proper database to devise and implement policies, making the process of providing welfare services difficult.
- About 30% of India’s youth are neither employed nor in education or training, the highest proportion in the world.
- Lack of institutions and skills training in new skills within current course curriculums.
- Significant challenge of skilling and re-skilling a large pool of workers and youth to meet future technological demands.
- Need for constant changes in skill composition to align with future technological developments.
- Education and skill development regimes in India must address skills mapping and reskilling processes.