Adaptation Key in the Evolving Jobs Market

Research has shown that young people get their ideas and views on the job market from a wide range of influences. These include their peer group, family and friends, and the media. You will know through experience that whichever career path we choose has a huge impact on many aspects of our lives, including how much money we can earn and how satisfied we are with our working lives. These factors, in turn, are key determinants of what kind of overall quality of life we can have.

Bearing this in mind, parents can play a key role in helping their children to make more informed choices on their futures. As the World Bank in 2012 briefs – in 2005, 86pc of Ethiopians participated in the labour market. Labour force participation rates were higher in rural areas than in urban areas – 89 and 73pc, respectively. The high labour force participation rates are not unusual for a poor country, since they tend to have an absence of social security systems and low income.

In fact, Ethiopia has one of the highest labour force participation rates in the world – the sixth highest. In 2009, the average labour force participation rate for Sub-Sahara Africa and East Asia was 71pc; the average for the least developed countries (LDC) was 74pc and for high income countries the average was 61 percent. But when we consider the share of the youth labour force relative to the total labour force in Ethiopia, we see a slightly different picture. In 1999, the youth labour force, those between the ages of 15 and 24, represented 35pc of the total labour force. In 2011, their share fell significantly to 28pc.

In the current economic climate, finding a suitable job has become more difficult. It is important to remind young people that they may need to spend time studying and building up skills and qualifications before they can compete effectively in the jobs market. This will take patience and perseverance. Ambition can be an important factor in motivating young people to work hard towards achieving their chosen career goal. However, it is also important that young people are realistic.

While qualifications are increasingly important in helping young people to get work, employers are also looking for potential employees who have the right personal qualities and attitudes. Qualifications are increasingly important as we move towards a higher skilled, knowledge-based economy. By 2020, governments expect that around 40pc of all jobs will require a degree. The evidence shows that, on average, people with higher qualifications can expect to earn more than those with lower levels of qualifications or those with no qualifications at all. The choices that young people make now can have a long-term impact on their job prospects and can determine their chances of finding suitable work, as well as influencing what type of job they do and how much money they can earn.

Investing in qualifications and skills significantly increases the chance of getting a well-paid job in the future.

Achieving career goals may take many years of study and hard work. Therefore, young people, including graduates, should expect to work their way up the career ladder as they develop the necessary on-the-job skills and experience.

Qualifications are increasingly required in the modern labour market and many job vacancies require particular qualifications before you can even apply. But employers are looking for much more than qualifications. Those young people who can demonstrate that they have the skills and qualities that employers want will be more successful in their efforts to find a suitable job.

We cannot know for certain where the new jobs in the future will be. However, many people who study the jobs market believe that scientific sectors will emerge as key industries in the future. These include bio-sciences, environmental technologies and renewable energy production.

The environmental challenges that we face mean that there is pressure to find solutions. Efforts to move towards a low-carbon economy mean that there will be increased demand for workers with skills and knowledge.

While new types of industries will be important for future jobs growth, existing sectors of employment, including public administration, healthcare and manufacturing will continue to offer many job opportunities for the foreseeable future.

The constantly changing economy means that some occupations are becoming more numerous, whilst others are declining. For example, over the past few years, medical, educational and legal associate professionals have all been among the fastest growing occupations. Conversely, jobs related to machinery have all been within the fastest declining occupations. Interestingly, many of the fastest growing occupations require higher levels of training and qualifications compared to those that are in decline.

The traditional full time, five days a week job is no longer as dominant as it used to be, with flexible working practices becoming more common. This is because the economy requires more cash inflows pumped into households to enable them to survive in the raging economical furnace.

The concept of Portfolio Workers has been coined to highlight how people in the modern jobs market have developed portable skills that they can use in a more fluid and changing jobs market. In the modern labour market, we need to have flexibility adaptability and mobility if we want to maximise our employability.

Many jobs require workers to be flexible. For example, some jobs require shift work or demand that employees work evenings or weekends. Others take work on short-term, temporary contracts. These are all examples of workforce flexibility. The jobs that are available and how we do them are constantly changing. Workers need to be able to adapt to this change by being ready to accept new working methods, learn new skills and, when necessary, moving on to different jobs. Self-employment & freelance work will also become more common.

People who are self-employed earn their living from their own business, trade or profession, rather than earning a salary or wage directly from an employer.

Self-employment is more common in some occupations, such as in the building trade, accountancy, legal services and the media industry.

Being self-employed can have a number of attractive features, such as allowing people more choice as to how, when and where they work. However, many self-employed people work longer hours than employees and have to be responsible for all aspects of running a business, including marketing, finance and planning.

If we have the opportunity of overcoming the risk of self-employment and freelancer work, qualifications and knowledge are found to be somewhat disregarded.


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