Developed
countries need to “urgently” boost adult training and education
programmes to deal with future mass job upheaval brought on by automation, the
OECD said Wednesday.
The OECD’s latest analysis found that one in seven jobs are at risk of being fully
automated while another 30 percent would likely be overhauled.
But only 40 percent of workers in the jobs most at risk receive training, far
less than the 59 percent of those with jobs at low risk, it found.
“Many OECD countries need to
urgently scale-up and upgrade their adult learning systems to help people adapt
to the future world of work,” the Paris-based group of major economies
said in a new report.
The report said lack of motivation was a problem, with half of adults not
wanting training, while 11 percent want to train but lack time, money, or
support from their employer.
The report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
assessed the “future-readiness” of each of its member countries’
adult learning systems.
It found
Greece, Japan and Slovakia performed poorly in most areas, but there was still
plenty of room for improvement in better-performing countries such as Norway
and Denmark.
The report recommended that countries promote “the benefits of adult
learning and providing targeted support for the low skilled, the unemployed,
migrants and older people”.
It also suggesting targeting training in areas were jobs were most likely to
become obsolete in the future.
Finally, it said nations should “ensure adequate public financing and incentivising employers to contribute through training levies and tax incentives, as well as encouraging individuals through subsidies and paid training leave”.
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