New skills now: Inclusion in the digital economy

Anticipating and preparing for the impact of digital on the workforce is urgent, and just as critical to Accenture’s business as it is to our corporate citizenship initiative, Skills to Succeed.
When we look at the world today and five to 10 years into the future, we see a different picture from the backdrop against which Skills to Succeed was created. The rapid pace and scale of technological change and global flows of information, among other forces, are disrupting labor markets and fundamentally altering the future of work. While these shifts may create economic growth, new jobs and flexible work, they may also lead to the automation of routine, manual roles. The ability to seize these opportunities and manage potential obstacles, however, is not evenly distributed.1 Vulnerable and marginalized populations could face a ‘double disadvantage’ in the future, due to a lack of awareness of or means to adapt to these changes. It is with these challenges in mind that we undertook our research, New Skills Now: Inclusion in the Digital Economy, to surface insights that we hope will be useful to our target audience.