Jobs Galore In The New Economy
The digital economy has arrived as technology shapes every private business and public sector organisation. But it is also creating lots of jobs for the next generation of young people.
Rising to the challenge
Entrepreneurs, schools, universities, enterprise agencies and government must work together to develop clusters of digital awareness and activity.
The challenge is to harness the power of such a collective approach to make commercial links between local businesses and global opportunities.
Entrepreneurs will create jobs in new and traditional areas as the digital economy provides access to international markets but there are a number of issues to be tackled before such rewards are realised.
One of the greatest is the need for companies to recruit staff with skills that add value to their growth plans and stage of development.
Young people are a natural target as businesses look to school leavers and college students to provide the talent they seek.
The next generation, therefore, need an excellent grasp of English and maths and specialist knowledge of digital and social media.
Greater contact between the business community and students while still in school and at college is necessary to ensure each group understands the other’s expectations.
Similarly, communication between entrepreneurs, students and teachers is necessary to let students know they can create their own job, rather than assume someone else will always provide a job.
Different types of jobs
Students must know about the range of jobs on offer, as the digital economy expands beyond traditional practices and areas of commercial influence.
Teachers need exposure to entrepreneurs in the digital sector to appreciate the scale of disruption and the types of jobs on offer.
Even with such links there remains a shortage of skills and therefore a tremendous demand to recruit employees from other countries.
The most recent vote for Brexit may also pose a problem as government restricts the number of employees eligible to come and work in the country.
Companies cite the ability to gain access to people with the skills they want as one of the biggest and most persistent of barriers to growth.
The fact that the digital economy is already creating more jobs than can be filled highlights the need to address the issue with a sense of urgency.
It will require the work of many groups and organisations but is a function of a thriving sector of the economy driven by new and thrilling technologies.
Businesses are nevertheless experiencing enormous technical and structural change, which, albeit invisible to many, is transforming the way they work and who and how they recruit.
So, the digital economy is upon us and in the midst of its creative upheaval the next generation must develop the skills they need to find jobs or create jobs.
