SA needs to look at future of jobs in knowledge economy
The skills needed in five years will be wholly different to those needed to adapt to new practices now
Since the 1800s there has been an evolution from agrarian economies to ones dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. Then they evolved into services economies and recently into knowledge-based economies. Some are already talking about the next step in the evolution to the creative age and creative economies, where value is based on novel imaginative qualities. Ideas move from “what is” to “what if?”. Each of these economies need different skills and knowledge. According to the World Economic Forum’s evaluation of international workplace requirements, “five years from now, over one-third of skills that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed”. In SA, 39% of core skills required across occupations will be wholly different by 2020 compared with what was required in 2015. Even worse, 41% of all work activities in SA are susceptible to automation.
Knowledge economies require that countries review how they access and benefit from the high-level knowle...
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