India joins WEF reskilling initiative as founding member

India on Wednesday joined as a founding government member the World Economic Forum's Reskilling Revolution, an initiative to provide one billion people with better education, skills and jobs by 2030.

The scheme aims to future-proof workers from technological change and help economies by providing new skills for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the WEF said.

Founding governments include Brazil, France, India, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, UAE and the US. Business partners include PwC, Salesforce, ManpowerGroup, Infosys, LinkedIn, Coursera Inc. and The Adecco Group.

"The best way to foster a more cohesive and inclusive society is to provide everybody with a decent job and income. Here in Davos, we are creating a public-private platform to give one billion people the skills they need in the age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

"The scale and urgency of this transformation calls for nothing short of a reskilling revolution," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum (WEF).

To date, over 415 private sector companies have pledged more than 14.5 million career-enhancement opportunities for American workers over the next five years.

Initiatives like these show that these combined public-private efforts can and will achieve the one billion goal, the WEF said.

LinkedIn will be a data partner for the Reskilling Revolution initiative.

The WEF also released on Wednesday a report titled 'Jobs of Tomorrow: Mapping Opportunity in the New Economy'. It worked with LinkedIn, Coursera Inc and Burning Glass Technologies to map seven emerging professional clusters and 96 fastest-growing jobs within them.

About the initiative, Ivanka Trump, assistant and advisor to US President Donald Trump, said the United States is a leading example of when the public and private sectors come together to prioritise workers and ensure them, their families and respective economies are prepared for the changing nature of work and the workplace.

One billion lives will be changed by 2030 through this Reskilling Revolution and the Trump administration, through its Pledge to America's Workers, is excited to continue to serve as a catalyst for private-sector engagement worldwide, she said.

Infosys CEO Salil Parekh said, "We are excited to partner with the World Economic Forum through the Reskilling Revolution initiative.

"As availability of digital talent continues to be one of the greatest barriers for enterprises to transform, organizations need to nurture a culture that enables talent - across disciplines and skills - to benefit from a continuum of lifelong learning that prepares them for the future of work. We are keen to help drive the transformation," he said.