Industrial Revolution to Cause the Loss of 375 Million Jobs

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The fourth industrial revolution will cause the loss of 75 million to 375 million jobs with many companies collapsing as a result of automation and digitalization, but, at the same time, new jobs are created.

"Therefore, we have since long time earlier reminded the younger generation to be ready to face what is to come," Head of the Bureau of Planning at the Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry Dr Erry Ricardo Nurzal said at a seminar on Industrial Revolution 4.0 on Saturday.

If the Indonesian younger generation had been ready, the threat of loss of many jobs could turn into an opportunity to create new jobs especially digital based jobs, he said.

In the era of industrial revolution 4.0, there would be a phenomenon of young people no longer working at office with time regulation, but they would work with their digital devices anywhere and anytime to earn money.

"This already takes place in the United States as well as European and Asian countries, including Indonesia," he said.

In this era, everything is replaced with machines inter- connected and human energy and brains are no longer needed, he said.

Artificial intelligence (AI) begins to replace the function of human brains, including in decision making, he added.

He cited in banking world, machine has already replaced men in making analysis when a decision is to be made about loans to a company by seeing the track records of the company, he said.

"Only the capacity in creativity that could not yet be replaced with machines. Therefore, the millennial generation has to be creative or they would be left lagging behind," he said.

Meanwhile, the dean of the Technical Faculty of the Muhammadiyah University, Dr Sugema, said the fourth industrial revolution began to reach its peak, marked by the trend of automation and development of digital technology, which has its impact on the life of the whole people in the world.

"We want students to be enlightened and motivated that they are ready to meet the challenges and could adapt themselves to the era of disruption," Dr Sugema said.

ANTARA