What should governments do to prepare for the technological automation of human jobs?

Governments can do a lot to prepare for the technological automation of human jobs.

Here are some things they could do:

• Align research, development, and innovation activities in universities and the public sector with the needs and requirements of society and the future of work.
• Apply artificial intelligence and machine learning to the definition and implementation of public policies.
• Develop and execute a national implementation strategy in science, technology, innovation, and robotics.
• Develop and implement continuous life-long training and development models and approaches.
• Develop policies that facilitate easy movement or migration of qualified people across national boundaries.
• Encourage continuous investments in skills development.
• Encourage open government, transparency, and accountability.
• Energise the education sector and university system to promote the modernisation and upgrade of their structures and the upgrading of its teaching staff.
• Engage in a continuous dialogue with industry representatives to obtain up-to-date information on the skills that are most relevant for the workers of tomorrow.
• Ensure flexibility and accountability of the education system.
• Ensure that all employees have publicly funded or portable health care benefits and pensions.
• Ensure that educational systems provide courses to better fit with individuals’ work and personal or family responsibilities.
• Ensure that venture capital funds support investment in research, development, and innovation.
• Expand and adapt apprenticeship programs.
• Extend support systems and programs for self-employment, freelancing, and entrepreneurship.
• Generate hybrid education models that include new methodologies and practical training and development.
• Incorporate labour market intelligence systems into education, training, and employment policies.
• Promote a model of dual training throughout the education system.
• Promote an integrated education system that unites technological competences with creativity and humanities.
• Promote creative industries within the framework of digital culture.
• Promote digital literacy for the whole society.
• Promote educational programs focused on STEM skills and competencies.
• Promote new business models and economic activity.
• Promote scientific development on the basis of collaboration between the public and private spheres.
• Promote self-employment, learning, and self-education.
• Promote the integration of workforce and technology decisions.
• Promote training workers before the technology comes along.
• Promote the upskilling of educators with new knowledge, skills, and capabilities.
• Provide efficient and effective systems for resolving employment disputes such as a “labour court” or its equivalent.
• Provide personal tax incentives to individuals to undertake personal skills upgrade or development.
• Provide tax incentives or grants to organisations wanting to set up innovation hubs for up-skilling their workforce.
• Provide tax incentives to organisations that equip their workforce to remain employable and future-ready with new or updated skills and competencies.
• Re-evaluate and update current employment laws to incorporate more effective protections for worker rights to cover those workers and contractors currently excluded from coverage.
• Reorientation of the education system from a collective to an individual approach.
• Rethink social protection models for workers.
• Solve the market failure of training and development.
• Support retraining and other labour market and income replacements for displaced workers.
• Support wage policies that reduce income inequality such as increasing the minimum wage and/or the earned income tax credit.
• Transform life-long learning into reality.
• Use tax and/or it’s purchasing practices to reward organisations that follow high-road strategies.
• Work with educational institutions, unions, and business to expand apprenticeship programs.
• Provide government-backed educational and awareness programs to upskill workers with future-ready and job-ready skills and competencies.
• Run marketing campaigns about the future of work and what workers need to do now to future-proof themselves.
• Require businesses to set aside a percentage of their total payroll cost to fund training and development activities for their workers for the purposes of upskilling or upgrading.