New Delhi, Delhi, India | 7th December 2019: In the midst of falling growth rate, trade wars and changing structure of the economy, concern about rising unemployment has emerged as big concern. Falling employment and stagnant wages in agriculture and deceleration in the manufacturing sector has led to the unemployment rate hitting four-decade high.
The question on everyone’s mind is, ‘what will the humans do if machines and computers powered by artificial intelligence will take over the jobs performed by them?’. Will new opportunities created by demographic shifts, changing aspirations and consumption patterns of a growing middle class and millennials create enough opportunities for over 15 million people ready to enter workforce each year. Is our education and skilling system preparing the young people for these jobs of future? Its in this context that Grameen Foundation India, a pioneering development organization inspired by the work of Nobel Laureate Prof. Muhammad Yunus is organizing the first ever conference dedicated to the theme of Jobs, Self-employment and Entrepreneurship, called “The Jobs Conference”, on Dec 09 and 10, 2019 at Hotel Eros in New Delhi on Dec 09 and 10.
“The conference takes a deeper look at the problem of unemployment and brings together thinkers, practitioners and policy makers to craft a coherent response to the jobs crisis,” says Prabhat Labh, CEO of Grameen Foundation India.
Addressing the jobs crisis entails looking deeper into sectors where the jobs of future will come from. “In every problem lies an opportunity. Sectors such as clean energy, healthcare and wellness, arts and entertainment, tourism and hospitality, waste management, can all be huge job creators as India tries to catch up with the developed world not just in terms of its infrastructure, but also in terms of the quality of its social services and leads the way in fighting climate change concerns,” adds Prabhat.
The conference will be inaugurated by Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India and is being held under the aegis of “Skills India” under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, and in partnership with ONGC.
The Jobs Conference (www.TheJobsConference.org) aims to
- Bring together all the stakeholders to deliberate and learn from each other about how to make progress on the situation of jobs, self-employment and entrepreneurship.
- How digitalization, artificial intelligence, platform economy and data science could create new opportunities, while traditional jobs see a reduction.
- Understanding the barriers faced by women, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups and come up with action points to address them for a more equitable job market.
