The corporate world, the way businesses carry out their operations, and let their presence known in the marketplace are constantly changing. The strategies businesses use today were unheard of even a decade ago. It is amazing how population growth, demographics, and the progress of science and technology affect the job market and how businesses work today. Businesses are also changing the way they market their products and create their brand images in the marketplace. With new trends and technologies, some of the changes that the corporate world is seeing today are in the demographics of the workforce, the mismatch in skill levels and a shift toward a more mobile workforce.
The demographic shift
One of the major challenges that businesses around the world are facing today is the rapidly growing aging population. The world’s demography is changing, and soon businesses and employers will face the problem of hiring and recruiting a workforce from a suitable, desired age group. Despite the increasing global population, it is being observed that the population of elderly and aging citizens are rising, and soon, global employers have to recruit from a workforce which is constantly shrinking.
The world population may be rising at a rapid rate, but the truth is, the number of skilled and available workers is actually shrinking. This is not only true for countries like Japan and Italy, which already have an advanced age group, but some of the developing countries and emerging markets such as China and Russia are also facing the demographic shift in the labor force.
The data suggests that this is only the beginning. The “demographic divide” is expected to arise between young and aged workers, and will be more acute, especially in fields where more education and skills are required.
Despite the huge projected workforce population, and the rapid growth in world population, which is expected to be 7.6 billion by 2020, the population of the working age will decline in many countries, including the United States.(Six global trends shaping the business world)
“Reserve Bank of Chicago predicted that the labor force participation rate would be lower in 2020 regardless of how well the economy does.”- The Washington Post
Countries like Japan have already been facing this problem. They have a greater number of people retiring each year than the number of people entering the workforce. The same phenomenon has also been observed in the European job market. In Europe, the number of workers retiring from the job market exceeded the number of workers joining the workforce, for the first time. This trend of a job gap is relatively manageable today. However, the gap between the laborers entering the job market and the number of people retiring from the job market continues to grow.
Mismatch in skill levels
There is a growing number of employees who are unable to fill job vacancies because their talents fall short. The employer’s expectations and the skill levels of employees tend to be mismatched. A survey in 2010 showed that about 30% of workers worldwide find it difficult to fill positions in their markets because they are not qualified enough, as per the requirements of the job. The jobs of the future will be increasingly demanding. According to The Telegraph, thousands of workers are facing “occupational downgrading.”The report by ILO also warns that the skill mismatch is worsening, as a result of continuous unemployment; workers will find themselves incompetent for the new available jobs.
Global and mobile workforce
Future corporations will operate from a smaller setting, with a smaller number of people, who will be a more efficient labor force. They will not necessarily be present physically at work; the trend towards working with virtual workers, who will work from their own homes, whenever needed, will increase. Many corporations will seek talent from overseas, where they are more likely to find good quality labor, at a lower price.
The future of our economy relies on changes and innovations. As corporate culture and business trends change in the future, workers need to constantly develop their skills, and will need to find a balance and solid ground on which they can rest their feet upon.
P.S: – Please add a comment in the comment box below, and let us know your thoughts on this article.
Source: Institute of Ecolonomics
