Relating information technology to employment and manpower

The present monograph attempts to draw a profile of the new information technology together with its attendant implications on employment levels and manpower development on the basis of the experience about its diffusion in the industrially advanced countries. Employment implications are discussed in repect of employment levels and have been examined from the standpoint of the IT Sector and its two constituent elements (i.e., IT Producing Sector and IT Using Sector). Manpower development aspect has been dealt with in terms of (a) skill composition separately for IT Producing Sector and IT Using Sector, and (b) training and retraining with reference to (i) skill upgradation in existing jobs, and (ii)sunrise skills. In the information technology sector in general, there is very little to offer to the unskilled and semi-skilled workers and their employment,therefore, gets substantially reduced. The IT Producing Sector opens up new employment opportunities but countervailing unemployment is also caused due to closure or replacement of traditional and electro-mechanical technology-based activities. On the other hand, in the IT Using Sector, the impact of application of information technology is of a mixed nature; labour-saving in some activities and labour-absorbing in others. But, with the passage of time, the the employment generation effects are expected to grow relatively faster as entirely new activities get added up to the existing range of tradeable services.