World Bank a threat to 69% by automation jobs in India

New Delhi: Research has predicted that the proportion of jobs threatened by automation in India is 69%, while it is 77% in China and 85% in Ethiopia, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said, citing data from the multilateral agency.

"If this is true, we need to understand the paths to economic growth that will be available for these countries and then adapt our approach to infrastructure accordingly," said Kim. He did not elaborate on which are the sectors to be hit hard by automation in these countries.

"Moreover, with increasing reliance on private sector investments, we will have to increase our vigilance to ensure that privatization does not equal exclusion of the poor and marginalized. Our top priority is to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity, and our engagement with the private sector must be anchored in these two core values," he said in a speech.

He said if technology leads to fundamental transformation in the kind of jobs available in developing countries then the focus has to increase on investing in people.

The Narendra Modi government has promised to create millions of jobs to absorb thousands of youth coming to the workforce and unveiled several programmes such as 'Make in India' to attract investment and has been prodding investors to set up manufacturing facilities. Critics say not enough jobs are being created in the economy.Quick expansion of automation could contribute to a hollowing out of labour market and rising inequality, according to the World Development report. It said that from a technological standpoint two-thirds of all jobs are susceptible to automation in the developing world but effects are moderated by lower wages and slower technology adoption.Several companies are also embracing automation which threatens jobs in several sectors. Kim called on creating resources for infrastructure to get developing countries to invest in people. "Without more capital, we will have difficulty in convincing countries to increase their investments in people at the scale we think is necessary to build a workforce that can be competitive in the economy of the future," said the World Bank president.


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