Labor markets around the world haven’t kept pace with rapid shifts in the global economy, and their inefficiencies have taken a heavy toll. Millions of people cannot find work, even as sectors from technology to healthcare struggle to fill open positions. These issues translate into costly wasted potential for the global economy. More important, they represent hundreds of millions of people coping with unemployment, underemployment, stagnant wages and discouragement.
Online talent platforms are increasingly connecting people to the right work opportunities. By 2025 they could add $2.7 trillion to global GDP, and begin to ameliorate many of the persistent problems in the world’s labor markets.
amandabowman's insight:
This infographic is taken from a fascinating report by McKinsey which looks at how online talent platforms could bring significant benefits to African economies and job seekers in those markets. With millions of young people struggling to find meaningful work and companies struggling to find candidates with the right skills and competencies for the roles they want to fill, more needs to be done.
In June 2015, a group of companies met in Cape Town to explore how they could work together to address human capital development in Africa; in particular looking at bridging the gap between education and employment, building employability skills and building the capacity of entrepreneurs and scaling entrepreneurship. The meeting elicited many ideas for future collaboration as well as some great examples of existing initiatives.
One example from Mike Macharia of SevenSeas Technologies in Kenya was a strategic partnership between the company and Vodacom called Xaba a transformative employment platform that will open up thousands of regional job opportunities for blue-collar workers in Kenya. Currently, 40% of young Kenyans are unemployed, with counties such as the Rift Valley, Nyanza and the Western regions recording the highest levels of unemployment. Kenya’s rapid population growth means demand for jobs is currently outstripping supply.
Microsoft's YouthWorks is another platform that was of interest to all the companies present. YouthWorks is an online portal that supports workforce development and job placement across the Middle East and Africa. It provides a one stop shop for youth to find the right match through career guidance, training and upskilling, entrepreneurship development and job postings and matching.
These two examples show how forward looking companies are leveraging their core competencies to deliver products and services that meet their company goals and societies needs in Africa. And while these online platforms increase the transparency of the job market, at the same time they present the challenge of extending access to the technology and broadband required to access them.
Both platforms provide ongoing partnership opportunities. If you're interested in knowing more, or have other examples, do get in touch.