Need of the hour

India will need 30 million digitally skilled professionals by 2026, and about 50 percent of the current workforce would require to re-skill themselves in areas of emerging technologies, a new report said. Currently, India has about 500 million people of working age, and industry data suggests that only 49 per cent of total youth (age group of 22-25 years) in the countro y is employable, according to employment services provider TeamLease. Our own survey have indicated that 75 per cent of companies face a skill gap in the industry. Even among people, whcan stay in their current jobs, 40 per cent of fundamental abilities are likely to change and thus re-aligning the skill strategy will be crucial for companies, said Rituparna Chakraborty, Co-Founder & Executive Director, TeamLease Services. Moreover, the report suggests that developing a skills matric, conducting skill audits to target specific learning journeys and intermingling upskilling within the company culture; a comprehensive skill development strategy will lead to a more sustainable future of work.The proposed suggestion also includes having an effective outcome-focused learning approach with structured impact evaluation metrics.