Skill development facilitates the transition from an informal to a formal economy. | By Rajabahadur V Arcot |
PwC’s Manufacturing Barometer released in October 2013 reports that “more than three-fourths (77%) of US industrial product manufacturers surveyed cite a need to fill certain skill gaps in their businesses over the next 12-24 months. Only 23% claim to have all the right skills needed at present.” The headline on the Birmingham Science City website, while reporting the Royal Geographical Society annual conference talk by Professor John Bryson, Chair of Enterprise and Economic Geography, screams “Skills Shortage Threatens the UK’s Thriving Manufacturing Industry.”
There is a growing recognition now that manufacturing plays a crucial role in sustainable job and wealth creation, and countries can only ignore this reality at their own peril. While there is consensus about the manufacturing industry’s importance in the economic wellbeing of the country and the manufacturing industry’s future landscape, some key issues confront the strategic policy makers, both at the country and industry levels. The issues are all the more relevant when we take into account that the share of the country’s manufacturing industry to India’s GDP is only around 15% compared to China’s 32%, Korea’s 31%, Thailand’s 34%. The fact that India needs a much more robust manufacturing industry and its contribution to the country’s economy must increase should be amply clear when we look at the actual value of manufacturing industry’s contribution; India’s manufacturing output is only around US$ 180 billion compared to the USA’s US$ 1,870 billion, China’s US$ 1,500 billion and Korea’s US$ 301. For the country and industry sector to be future ready, India needs highly skilled workforce to develop innovative clean technologies, sustainable production processes, and collaborative enabling technologies including the cyber-physical systems.
Despite the manufacturing industry’s key role in job creation and economic wellbeing of the country, it is no longer the preferred career choice among the workforce. This situation has to change. The industry requires professionals in science, engineering, technology, and mathematics and at various levels; engineers, technical and business managers, functional heads, and such others. The skill sets, experience profiles, functional capabilities expected from the industry professionals would cover a very broad spectrum. While at the entry level, fresh graduates coming out of technical institutions and engineering colleges would form the backbone, but at other levels, the industry would need people with multiple skills and many years of varied experience.
Moving up the value chain, the industry needs professionals with research and development experience, excellent domain knowledge, production management expertise, executive management capabilities, information technology skills, and such others. While at the entry level the industry seeks educated and skilled workforce with ready-to-deploy technical knowledge and skills, it also requires professionals with additional skill sets, knowledge, and experience to perform widely varying executive roles as they move up the organisational ladder.
Just as the industry needs professionals with various skill sets and expertise, the professional also have their own set of expectations as they move along the career path. While they may be starting their career leveraging their technical knowledge, but their long-term aspiration is to reach the top echelons in an enterprise. The challenge is to meet the mutual expectations of the industry and the professionals. The best way is to take a holistic approach that brings within its ambit the educational system, on the job training, professional certification by industry organisations, company or industry initiated skill development programs, and self-learning.
The industry expects the professionals graduating from engineering colleges and other technical schools to possess the basic entry-level technical knowledge. One often hears the complaint that graduates emerging from colleges and schools are not readily employable. There is a certain amount of truth in this complaint. The best way forward is for the industry and the academia to come on a common platform to evolve the most appropriate syllabi and training. In addition to the academia’s important role in imparting technical education, professional-organisation sponsored certification courses also play a very important role, especially in providing a career path to those with strong on-the-job industry experience.
On their part, the industrial companies must evolve the appropriate training and skill development programmes for their executives. They must identify their needs and take into account the growth opportunities for their professionals, while formulating their training and skill development programs. While the academia, industry, and the professional and industry organizations play a major role in imparting technical skills, knowledge, etc., it is equally incumbent on professionals to keep abreast of the technical trends and developments through self-learning.
While skill shortage that confronts, especially the manufacturing industry, is a global phenomenon, the reasons for it and its ramifications have to be viewed in the country’s context. While a large number of educational institutes that provide courses in science, engineering, and technology exist in India, the true level of relevant knowledge and skills imparted needs review and scrutiny. Additionally, the number of students interested in pursuing studies in these courses is significantly large in India compared to the developed countries. However, it is interesting to note that the number of graduates seeking career opportunities in the information technology sector outnumber those seeking jobs in the manufacturing industry.
One among the reasons for this prevailing situation is that information technology sector offers better career prospects on one hand and on the other the sheer number of jobs in the manufacturing sector is less in comparison to the information technology sector. Tragically, be it in the manufacturing or the information technology sectors, the country is not investing enough in design, research, and development that would take the country along the path of innovation and creativity. There is yet another dimension to the story. On a personal note, I would like to highlight that I do know of instances where highly talented and self-driven, and motivated boys and girls coming from the rural India with the right qualifications, abilities, and aptitude find it difficult to get the needed breakthrough in finding career openings. The recruitment process, selection criteria, mindset issues, and such others are some of the social challenges that also require attention.