Technological Unemployment, Skill Mismatch and the Future of Higher Education in Post-Pandemic Nigeria

Abstract

Technological advancement is one of the main drivers of economic growth and development. It propels increased productivity, boosts per capita income, affects consumption patterns, and significantly alters the nature of work in both developed and developing countries. The issue of unemployment has traversed different historical epochs, with several scholars proffering solutions to the problem based on their conceptualisations of the problem's causes. In recent times, technological unemployment (TU) has assumed critical proportions of scholars looking at the issue from different perspectives, thereby offering divergent insights into its impact on job creation and destruction in the present and the prognosis of what may happen in the future. The post-pandemic period has brought about a phenomenal increase in the utilisation of e-learning and other technological devices for effective and efficient modes of teaching and learning. The effects of technology on employment have become apparent due to its attendant consequences: rising inequality, rising unemployment, the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, and increasing digital automation of manufacturing processes - the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). This chapter critically examines the changing patterns of education delivery before, during and after the pandemic, the 'work-less society' in the context of TU; the nexus between TU and skill mismatch, as well as TU and the future of higher education in post-pandemic Nigeria.