Digital skills key to adapting to rise of automation, claims new research
Research compiled by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority suggests that up to 430,000 jobs could disappear in Leeds City Region over the next 20 years as a result of automation.
With 102,000 people already employed in digital roles, and the number of digital jobs in the region set to grow 10 times faster than non-digital roles, the upturn in automation is moving parallel with increased demand for digital skills.
As a result, the Combined Authority and Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) are focusing on a number of initiatives to help people develop the skills to get into digital professions.
The Combined Authority’s Employment and Skills Panel recently noted that the rise of artificial intelligence and other digital technologies does not mean job losses – but rather that roles across all industries are changing due to technology.
The LEP’s Discover Digital initiative aims to encourage people to consider switching to a career in digital and provides information on how to develop the skills that digital employers are looking for.
More than 20 City Region-based digital employers have already pledged their support for the campaign.
Rashik Parmar, engineer for IBM, LEP board member and chair of the Combined Authority’s Employment and Skills Panel, said: “Automation is often presented as a threat to jobs in our labour market, but actually it offers huge opportunities for our economy and for local residents if businesses, skills providers and policymakers like the LEP and Combined Authority approach it in the right way.
“For many businesses, automation is an important ingredient of improved productivity – which is a major challenge for our region. Our research suggests that closing the gap between the City Region’s productivity rate and the national average could add £10bn to our economy and create thousands of new jobs.”
The Combined Authority is also looking to ensure that people in lower skilled jobs, which are most susceptible to being automated, have opportunities to progress into more skilled roles offering better wages and living standards.
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, added: “Initiatives like our Discover Digital campaign, our focus on apprenticeships and our work with young people and schools are all helping to develop the labour market that our City Region needs to thrive in future.
“Digital careers aren’t just for young people however – to fill the 15,000 digital vacancies that are expected to be created in the region over the next few years, we need people already in the labour market to look seriously at the exciting opportunities that are becoming available as a result of digital innovations.”
