China would benefit the most from such an initiative, while countries in Central and Eastern Europe would benefit to a lesser extend, partly due to the structure of their economies and levels of education.
“Economies in Central and Eastern Europe still bear the burdens of transitioning to the free market: long term unemployment, unoccupied population, education systems that did not evolve in tandem with labor market demand. This makes them more vulnerable to changes brought by new technologies that require upskilling. Two years ago we estimated around 600,000 jobs in Romania would be affected by automation and digitalization by 2029. We expect this process to progress faster in the new context brought about by the pandemic and we hope both the government and companies become more aware of the need to invest more in education and professional training,” said Ionut Simion, Country Managing Partner at PwC Romania.
In the new global context, unemployment is expected to rise as economies continue to feel the effects of the pandemic. That is why investments in upskilling are essential to stimulate economic recovery after COVID-19, the report notes.
Wider advantages of the upskilling and reskilling of workers are increased productivity, better jobs with reasonable pay that would contribute to narrowing pay gaps, especially those created by new technologies.
According to the report, less developed economies as well as countries with larger skill gaps could see greater gains as a percentage of GDP. The biggest gains would be, for example, in China (7.5%), India (6.8%), Spain (6.7%), Australia (5.9%) and South Africa (4.4%).
The potential uplift from large-scale upskilling in Central and Eastern Europe is one of the smallest globally, at less than 2.1% (1.8% under the core scenario), due in part to the structure of the economies and the level of education in these geographies.