How data science and online data can help closing the digital skill gap

On 7 June we held the Annual Conference of the Future of Work and Inclusive Growth project. Half-way through this three-year project, we discussed how inclusive the digital future of work will be, as we focus on job quality, digital skills and productivity. Moving past worries of how many jobs will be left in an AI-automated future, we discuss what kind of jobs this future holds? Low-skilled workers experience much more low-quality work and as new technologies are threatening to exacerbate this inequity, we discuss how to mitigate this risk and ensure better jobs for all workers across the skill spectrum. Closing the digital skills gap is crucial to achieving this inclusive growth and we examine how online data can enable useful foresight about skills requirements and training implications. Finally, digital skills will also be essential in ensuring that expected productivity gains of AI can materialize. We discuss the challenges business face as they adapt their business models and organizational models this new technology.