Tarlac City—About 18.2 million jobs across the country will be affected by digitalization, most of which are occupied by low-skilled workers and the lack of knowledge of specific fields especially in the virtual world, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) revealed over the weekend.
TESDA regional director Jesus Fajardo said future jobs over the next 10 years will focus mainly on the digital tailor, virtual store sherpa, personal memory curator, quantum machine learning analyst, augmented reality journey builder, financial wellness coach, and fitness commitment counselor.
To meet the demand of the digital age skilled workforce, Fajardo said TESDA will be coming up with a strategic plan to address future crisis brought about by the advent of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR).
“There will be a higher demand for a skilled workforce in large employment industries. For the next six years, six million quality workers are needed by industries that are forecasted to generate larger employment markets,” Fajardo explained.
He said TESDA is offering courses that would match the digitalization need.
“To match the regional development opportunities, we are pushing for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) for Global Competitiveness and Workforce Readiness, and TVET for Social Equity. In line with these thrusts are our strategic responses: agility, scalability, flexibility, and sustainability,” he said.
Fajardo said plans are underway for enterprise-based training as a dominant mode; pushing for TVET international standards; and implementing Skills Needed Anticipation to identify skills requirements that will address the challenges posed by the 4IR.
Among the priority industries of TESDA are tourism, hotels and restaurants, construction, IT-BPO, transport, communication, manufacturing, agriculture, fisheries, forestry, health and wellness, and other social services.
