For the Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Carolina Cosse, technological progress in the workplace is not a headache.
"A lot of people are worried that the addition of technology will cause job losses, and I think there's a great opportunity," he said.
Cosse participated on Thursday night in an event organized by Somos Uruguay - "The role of public companies towards the industry of the future"- together with the presidents of Antel, Andrés Tolosa; Ancap, Marta Jara, and UTE, Gonzalo Casaravilla.
To illustrate why he sees this paradigm shift in the world of work as an opportunity, Cosse cited a study that Deloitte conducted for the United Kingdom. According to the consultancy's work, 800,000 jobs were lost there between 2001 and 2015 due to automation, but another 3.5 million were created in the same period. "Therein lies the opportunity," the minister insisted.
According to her, with the experience of what has already happened in the developed world, Uruguay can "prepare for this to be a success" at the local level.
The hierarch exemplified some changes that have been taking place in the country. In this line, she mentioned that while the meat processing industry - one of the emblems at the national productive level - today directly employs 16,500 people, the software industry employs 22,000.
"Do you know why we are so insistent on this industry? Because it is so hungry for personnel that it is looking for them abroad," he said.
If younger generations are prepared to enter the industry, he said, it "soaks them up like a sponge and grows.
In addition, the strengthening of software is also important for another reason: "we have the tools at home to technify traditional industries," he said.
"If we think that industrial development in Uruguay has to be based on companies that employ 500, 1,000 people, it will be very difficult," Cosse said. The alternative, instead, must be to "prepare a lot of very small, highly technical companies with very good salaries for their people," she said.
When asked at the end of the event by the audience about the current employment situation -which has not yet been able to keep up with the growth of the economy in the last quarter- Cosse spoke again about the future. "I think that if we think that we are going to recover jobs by doing what we did before, we are wrong," said the Minister of Industry.
Of tariffs and challenges for the oil business.
In response to a question about the tariffs of public companies, Minister Cosse said that it is the government's "intention" to "achieve" a reduction and it is a special "concern" of the portfolio she manages. "There are tariffs that we want to lower much more, but we can't do it all at once," he said. He also recalled the last reduction made by Ancap -8% in the price of diesel since July 1-, which will mean a reduction of US$ 50 million in six months.
In turn, the president of Ancap, Marta Jara, spoke about the challenges facing a company like the one she leads when the world begins to demand less oil.
"We propose that a scenario is coming where demand will structurally have to be lower than supply," he said. For this reason, Ancap will have to become "as competitive as possible" to keep its business robust.
Meanwhile, the president of UTE, Gonzalo Casaravilla, reviewed the progress in terms of diversification of the energy matrix that Uruguay has achieved in recent years and also referred to the future. The future, he said, "is demand management". The electricity sector is "too important" to "leave it in the hands of the market". In addition, he said that it is necessary to "guarantee investments" and if there is no fiscal space "find a way". If not "then we pay the price".
Business | El País
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