• Articles

  • Inclusion

The Conseil d'orientation pour l'emploi recommends a "Grenelle des compétences numériques

Published on 02 October 2017
Update on 26 September 2022
Download in PDF

Summary

The Conseil d'orientation pour l'emploi (COE) has undertaken to assess the impact of automation and digitization on skills.

In a first report adopted at the beginning of the year, the Council examined the impact of the technological revolution on employment, in terms of job destruction, job creation and job transformation over the time horizon of the public decision, i.e., some 15 years. According to the COE, the issue was not so much the " end of work " as the transformation of jobs: while less than 10% of current jobs present a combination of vulnerabilities that threaten their durability, about 50% of current jobs will see their content transformed significantly or profoundly.

Volume 2 of this report seeks to better identify the skills that are likely to be in frequent demand in an increasingly digitalized and automated economy and to assess the current state of skills of the French workforce in light of these new needs.

The WCC distinguishes three groups of skills that should be much more mobilized in a digitized economy:

  • expert skills in new technologies
  • new technical skills in connection with the expected reorganization of approximately 50% of jobs
  • and, for all workers, an increase in the need for so-called "transversal" skills, which include general digital skills, cognitive skills (literacy, numeracy) and social and situational skills.

A growing shortage of expert skills in new technologies, estimated at 80,000 jobs by 2020 for information technology and electronics alone

In 2014, France had approximately 900,000 jobs for digital technology professionals according to the European Empirica report. The volume of employment for these profiles has been growing at an average rate of 4% per year in Europe, ten times faster than the evolution of total employment in recent years. While a large proportion of these jobs are in the digital sector, these professionals also work in user sectors such as industry and business services.

"Given the importance of the expected job creations, the supply of skills in France is insufficient and will remain so in the years to come. We could thus expect 80,000 job vacancies by 2020 in France. This estimate concerns only the digital and electronic fields: it does not cover the shortages likely to be encountered in all sectors related to new technologies."However, this shortage is expected to be less than in other countries (for example, it is estimated at 161,000 in the UK and 150,000 in Germany)."

A very important need for new technical skills: 50% of the working population will see the content of their current job significantly or profoundly transformed.

The digital transformation also results in new skill requirements for professionals whose activity is transformed by the use of technology in their company.

"These new skills required for a job may be digital skills. "LinkedIn data shows that, already, "tech" skills, more naturally associated with technology expert jobs, are also held by working people in other jobs. For example, 5% of the workforce registered on the social network with "tech" skills are salespeople and 1.8% are administrative employees.

"New non-digital technical skills are added to or replace the "classic" skills of each profession. "These new technical skills are very varied. Technologies have very diverse consequences, since they can, in some cases, lead to a reduction in the demand for human intervention, in others, support the activity and allow for the development of tasks with higher added value, or even a diversification of the activity. In all cases, they lead to changes in the tasks actually performed, either by eliminating or lightening some of them, or by adding new - often more complex - tasks, or by significantly modifying their content.

The COE's survey of OPCAs (Organismes paritaires collecteurs agréés) shows that, in the agricultural sector, the automation of greenhouse cultivation requires agricultural workers to have more advanced agronomic skills. Similarly, in the retail sector, salespeople are now expected to have a new level of expertise on products in the face of better-informed consumers. Examples like these can be found in all sectors.

A significant portion of the workforce will need to rapidly acquire or improve their general, cognitive, social and situational digital skills

  • General digital skills: "8% of workers in difficulty, 27% should progress to have better assets General digital skills are not just about mastering digital tools. They also include the ability to evolve in a digitized professional world - the ability to think critically, creatively and to use digital technologies responsibly, particularly in terms of protecting privacy, the environment or health. According to the European Commission's statistics, based on the European DigComp benchmark, in France, 8% of the working population has no digital skills at all, 27% have a low level, while 33% have a basic level and 29% a higher level. The youngest and most qualified have higher levels on average. While 82% of 16-24 year olds have basic or higher digital skills, this figure drops to 53% for 45-54 year olds. And 31% of the low-skilled have a sufficient level, compared to 84% of the highly skilled.
  • General cognitive skills: 13% of employed workers in difficulty, 30% need to improve in order to be better equipped"The increasing use of technology in the workplace also makes the possession of general cognitive skills in literacy, numeracy and "problem solving" all the more important, while the need for skills involving physical tasks is decreasing.Literacy and numeracy skills are more in demand in a digitized work environment. "Thegap in the demand for these skills between workers who already use digital technologies intensively and those who do not is widest for the medium and low skilled. According to the COE, 13% of employed workers (or 3.3 million people) have a level of proficiency in both numeracy and literacy that is likely to put them in difficulty in their current job or in the search for a new job. In addition, 30% (or 7.6 million people) could still improve their skills to be better equipped for the job expectations in a more digital economy. The risk of insufficient mastery of literacy and numeracy skills is not correlated with the level of qualification but varies with age.
  • Social and situational skills: A necessary skill increase for a great many workers, especially among the low- and medium-skilled. "Technologies will also be the source of a generalized increased demand for social (teamwork, social intelligence) and situational (autonomy, learning to learn) skills. The increase in demand for skills in this area is greatest for the low-skilled and especially the middle-skilled."

Skills and technological revolution: the main lines of a global strategy

On the basis of this diagnosis, the Council proposes the main lines of a global strategy for the evolution of skills in the context of the technological revolution.
  • Not only should we continue to improve the level of qualifications, but we should also act on skills. In France, the COE observes, "fora long time, the focus has been on diplomas acquired during initial training and on increasing the level of qualification of the working population.The response to the digital transformation cannot be summed up in this effort to raise the overall level of qualification.
  • The issue of adapting qualifications is central. "It is aquestion of taking better account, all along the scale of qualifications, of the new needs in skills linked to the technological revolution which were not taken into account until now, or only partially, such as social and situational skills.
The recommended strategy is based on several axes of change that should guide future developments in our education, vocational training, guidance and certification system:
  • learn more about skills and their evolution, especially at the regional level;
  • improve our school and career guidance system;
  • reforming our professional certification system;
  • make the training offer adapted to the rapidly changing technological context.
"Faced with such a challenge, we must collectively set quantified objectives. And monitor certain indicators, such as the rate of participation in vocational training, particularly for the low- or unskilled, the rate of mastery of basic and cross-cutting skills, the rate of access to the targeted certification, and the performance and added value of training.

"Given the uncertainties affecting both the scope and nature of the technological revolution and the speed of its spread, public policies must also know how to adapt permanently and put in place rules allowing for this adaptation and greater recourse to innovative methods, such as calls for projects."This strategy implies, first of all, a renewed method within the framework of a "Grenelle des compétences" to collectively define objectives - with figures - to be reached, to place the transformation linked to the technological revolution at the heart of the social dialogue and to guarantee a governance adapted to overcome compartmentalization.

This report echoes the concerns expressed by the European Commission about the shortage of digital skills in Europe, the launch of the French Coalition for Digital Skills, the recent work of France Stratégie and CEREQ to identify occupations in the digital sector, a recent report by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) on thedigital transformation of continuing vocational training, as well as the words of the Belgian Minister for the Digital Agenda, Alexander De Croo, who made the reinforcement of digital skills "his top political priority".

Références :

Sources

The Conseil d'orientation pour l'emploi recommends a "Grenelle des compétences numériques

The Conseil d'orientation pour l'emploi (COE) has undertaken to assess the impact of automation and digitization on skills.

In a first report adopted at the beginning of the year, the Council examined the impact of the technological revolution on employment, in terms of job destruction, job creation and job transformation over the time horizon of the public decision, i.e., some 15 years. According to the COE, the issue was not so much the " end of work " as the transformation of jobs: while less than 10% of current jobs present a combination of vulnerabilities that threaten their durability, about 50% of current jobs will see their content transformed significantly or profoundly.

Volume 2 of this report seeks to better identify the skills that are likely to be in frequent demand in an increasingly digitalized and automated economy and to assess the current state of skills of the French workforce in light of these new needs.

The WCC distinguishes three groups of skills that should be much more mobilized in a digitized economy:

  • expert skills in new technologies
  • new technical skills in connection with the expected reorganization of approximately 50% of jobs
  • and, for all workers, an increase in the need for so-called "transversal" skills, which include general digital skills, cognitive skills (literacy, numeracy) and social and situational skills.

A growing shortage of expert skills in new technologies, estimated at 80,000 jobs by 2020 for information technology and electronics alone

In 2014, France had approximately 900,000 jobs for digital technology professionals according to the European Empirica report. The volume of employment for these profiles has been growing at an average rate of 4% per year in Europe, ten times faster than the evolution of total employment in recent years. While a large proportion of these jobs are in the digital sector, these professionals also work in user sectors such as industry and business services.

"Given the importance of the expected job creations, the supply of skills in France is insufficient and will remain so in the years to come. We could thus expect 80,000 job vacancies by 2020 in France. This estimate concerns only the digital and electronic fields: it does not cover the shortages likely to be encountered in all sectors related to new technologies."However, this shortage is expected to be less than in other countries (for example, it is estimated at 161,000 in the UK and 150,000 in Germany)."

A very important need for new technical skills: 50% of the working population will see the content of their current job significantly or profoundly transformed.

The digital transformation also results in new skill requirements for professionals whose activity is transformed by the use of technology in their company.

"These new skills required for a job may be digital skills. "LinkedIn data shows that, already, "tech" skills, more naturally associated with technology expert jobs, are also held by working people in other jobs. For example, 5% of the workforce registered on the social network with "tech" skills are salespeople and 1.8% are administrative employees.

"New non-digital technical skills are added to or replace the "classic" skills of each profession. "These new technical skills are very varied. Technologies have very diverse consequences, since they can, in some cases, lead to a reduction in the demand for human intervention, in others, support the activity and allow for the development of tasks with higher added value, or even a diversification of the activity. In all cases, they lead to changes in the tasks actually performed, either by eliminating or lightening some of them, or by adding new - often more complex - tasks, or by significantly modifying their content.

The COE's survey of OPCAs (Organismes paritaires collecteurs agréés) shows that, in the agricultural sector, the automation of greenhouse cultivation requires agricultural workers to have more advanced agronomic skills. Similarly, in the retail sector, salespeople are now expected to have a new level of expertise on products in the face of better-informed consumers. Examples like these can be found in all sectors.

A significant portion of the workforce will need to rapidly acquire or improve their general, cognitive, social and situational digital skills

  • General digital skills: "8% of workers in difficulty, 27% should progress to have better assets General digital skills are not just about mastering digital tools. They also include the ability to evolve in a digitized professional world - the ability to think critically, creatively and to use digital technologies responsibly, particularly in terms of protecting privacy, the environment or health. According to the European Commission's statistics, based on the European DigComp benchmark, in France, 8% of the working population has no digital skills at all, 27% have a low level, while 33% have a basic level and 29% a higher level. The youngest and most qualified have higher levels on average. While 82% of 16-24 year olds have basic or higher digital skills, this figure drops to 53% for 45-54 year olds. And 31% of the low-skilled have a sufficient level, compared to 84% of the highly skilled.
  • General cognitive skills: 13% of employed workers in difficulty, 30% need to improve in order to be better equipped"The increasing use of technology in the workplace also makes the possession of general cognitive skills in literacy, numeracy and "problem solving" all the more important, while the need for skills involving physical tasks is decreasing.Literacy and numeracy skills are more in demand in a digitized work environment. "Thegap in the demand for these skills between workers who already use digital technologies intensively and those who do not is widest for the medium and low skilled. According to the COE, 13% of employed workers (or 3.3 million people) have a level of proficiency in both numeracy and literacy that is likely to put them in difficulty in their current job or in the search for a new job. In addition, 30% (or 7.6 million people) could still improve their skills to be better equipped for the job expectations in a more digital economy. The risk of insufficient mastery of literacy and numeracy skills is not correlated with the level of qualification but varies with age.
  • Social and situational skills: A necessary skill increase for a great many workers, especially among the low- and medium-skilled. "Technologies will also be the source of a generalized increased demand for social (teamwork, social intelligence) and situational (autonomy, learning to learn) skills. The increase in demand for skills in this area is greatest for the low-skilled and especially the middle-skilled."

Skills and technological revolution: the main lines of a global strategy

On the basis of this diagnosis, the Council proposes the main lines of a global strategy for the evolution of skills in the context of the technological revolution.
  • Not only should we continue to improve the level of qualifications, but we should also act on skills. In France, the COE observes, "fora long time, the focus has been on diplomas acquired during initial training and on increasing the level of qualification of the working population.The response to the digital transformation cannot be summed up in this effort to raise the overall level of qualification.
  • The issue of adapting qualifications is central. "It is aquestion of taking better account, all along the scale of qualifications, of the new needs in skills linked to the technological revolution which were not taken into account until now, or only partially, such as social and situational skills.
The recommended strategy is based on several axes of change that should guide future developments in our education, vocational training, guidance and certification system:
  • learn more about skills and their evolution, especially at the regional level;
  • improve our school and career guidance system;
  • reforming our professional certification system;
  • make the training offer adapted to the rapidly changing technological context.
"Faced with such a challenge, we must collectively set quantified objectives. And monitor certain indicators, such as the rate of participation in vocational training, particularly for the low- or unskilled, the rate of mastery of basic and cross-cutting skills, the rate of access to the targeted certification, and the performance and added value of training.

"Given the uncertainties affecting both the scope and nature of the technological revolution and the speed of its spread, public policies must also know how to adapt permanently and put in place rules allowing for this adaptation and greater recourse to innovative methods, such as calls for projects."This strategy implies, first of all, a renewed method within the framework of a "Grenelle des compétences" to collectively define objectives - with figures - to be reached, to place the transformation linked to the technological revolution at the heart of the social dialogue and to guarantee a governance adapted to overcome compartmentalization.

This report echoes the concerns expressed by the European Commission about the shortage of digital skills in Europe, the launch of the French Coalition for Digital Skills, the recent work of France Stratégie and CEREQ to identify occupations in the digital sector, a recent report by the General Inspectorate of Social Affairs (IGAS) on thedigital transformation of continuing vocational training, as well as the words of the Belgian Minister for the Digital Agenda, Alexander De Croo, who made the reinforcement of digital skills "his top political priority".

Références :

Sources

Labo Société Numérique

Labo République Française Agence nationale de cohésion des territoires
The Conseil d'orientation pour l'emploi recommends a "Grenelle des compétences numériques