Reskilling and Upskilling the Future-ready Workforce for Industry 4.0 and Beyond

Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing manufacturing processes and has a powerful impact on globalization by changing the workforce and increasing access to new skills and knowledge. World Economic Forum estimates that, by 2025, 50% of all employees will need reskilling due to adopting new technology. Five years from now, over two-thirds of skills considered important in today’s job requirements will change. A third of the essential skills in 2025 will consist of technology competencies not yet regarded as crucial to today's job requirements. In this study, we focus our discussion on the reskilling and upskilling of the future-ready workforce in the era of Industry 4.0 and beyond. We have delineated top skills sought by the industry to realize Industry 4.0 and presented a blueprint as a reference for people to learn and acquire new skills and knowledge. The findings of the study suggest that life-long learning should be part of an organization’s strategic goals. Both individuals and companies need to commit to reskilling and upskilling and make career development an essential phase of the future workforce. Great efforts should be taken to make these learning opportunities, such as reskilling and upskilling, accessible, available, and affordable to the workforce. This paper provides a unique perspective regarding a future-ready learning society as an essential integral of the vision of Industry 4.0.