Technological and Digital Tranformation And How It Affects The Labour Market
From local businesses going online to car manufacturers going all electric to our home appliances being controlled from a single device and our currencies going digital, the increasing usage and importance of technologies in our day-to-day life cannot be over emphasized as it has become something that we all need to get used to. Which begs the need for digital literacy amongst the old and the young today.
The emergence of these technologies has today posed both opportunities and treats:
Many people today believe technology will replace their jobs and leave them jobless, for instance let us take the transportation industry - ride hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft are planning to cut cost by replacing drivers with autonomous vehicles. According to a Washington post article by Faiz Siddiqui and Greg Bensinger on Uber and Lyft replacing drivers with computers a part of the article talks about how both companies plan to cut cost by replacing human drivers with autonomous vehicles. Though, the technology that would power these autonomous vehicles are still some years away it poses a big threat to lots of Uber and Lyft drivers as many rely on these companies as their source of lively hood.
However, the emergence of these ride hailing companies also created opportunities for lots of car owners to be able to get into gig industry and transportation business using the mobile application which has helped lots of people to make passive income with their cars. This shows how technology can pose a threat to people's jobs and at the same time create more opportunities to those that did not have one. What is still unclear is if technology will create or seize more job opportunities.
Software is eating the world
Technology is fast reducing the importance of mechanical and hardware functions and is replacing them with software functions which demand highly skilled technical expertise in the software field. An example of this change is evident in the automotive industry where more car manufacturers are making more of electric cars than gas powered cars. Most of these electric cars now rely more on software than ever before. Most cars companies are implementing digitized speedometers and touch screen functionalities rather than the old analog setting. Cars now rely on software updates to perform better rather than going to the car dealers store to make changes.
The increasing usage of software in modern appliances and products is the reason there is an increasing demand and pay for skilled workers such as software developers. For now, people who are quite knowledgeable in software development are amongst the beneficiaries of this technological revolution now as more software jobs are being created by the day.
If you do not want to be left out of the digital revolution and want to be relevant in the job market of the future. It would not be a bad idea to try your hands on some programming courses today. Some of these courses are free, some are paid for. If you have started your journey into software development i'll like to hear from you in the comment section, and if you are yet to start i will like to know what is holding you back.
References
Washingtonpost. (2019, March, 29). As IPO soars, can Uber and Lyft survive long enough to replace their drivers with computers? [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2019/03/29/even-with-ipo-billions-can-uber-lyft-survive-long-enough-replace-their-drivers-with-machines/
Urban. (2018, September, 28). Job market and labour force [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-technological-advancement-changing-labor-market
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