research paper on northeast india

North East Indians and Their Contribution to Indian Literature

• First Online: 15 September 2020

Cite this chapter

• Dhurjjati Sarma 5 &
• Venkat Pulla 6 , 7 , 8  

Part of the book series: Mapping Global Racisms ((MGR))

241 Accesses

Literature, both oral and written, has been reflective of the human sensibility that has met with and witnessed changes in the socio-political set-up. The aim here is to explore the idea of ‘marginalisation’ vis-à-vis the relationship of north east Indians with the mainstream Indian culture through the medium of literary expressions, particularly in the context of colonial modernity and postcoloniality. Specific to this is a question: are there any distinct flavours of the north eastern narrative and its linguistic influence that one can see in the larger paradigm of Indian literature? Here is a brief exploration of the movements that have carried forward the literary cultures of the region to the present day into the mainstream Indian culture.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Available as EPUB and PDF
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Baral, Kailash C. (2013). Articulating marginality: Emerging literatures from northeast India. In Margaret Ch. Zama (Ed.), Emerging literatures from northeast India: The dynamics of culture, society and identity (SAGE Studies on India’s North East) (pp. 3–13). New Delhi: SAGE.

Google Scholar  

Baruah, M. (2011). Frontier cultures: A social history of Assamese literature . New Delhi: Routledge India.

Basumatary, Jeetumoni. (2019). Community fiction: Mamang Dai’s The Legends of Pensam and Temsula Ao’s These Hills Called Home: Stories from a War Zone . In Bodhisattva Chattopadhyay, Aakriti Mandhwani, and Anwesha Maity (Eds.), Indian genre fiction: Pasts and future histories (Studies in Global Genre Fiction) (pp. 121–138). Oxon & New York: Routledge.

Borah, D. (2017, June 29 and 30). Keynote address delivered at a Sahitya Akademi seminar on ‘Representing Marginality: Texts and Traditions of Eastern Indian Languages’ at Gauhati University.

Buragohain, R. (1989). Cross-currents of the Hinduisation process in medieval Assam . PNEIHA, Tenth Session, Shillong.

Elwin, V. (1960). A philosophy for NEFA (North East Frontier Agency) . S. Roy on behalf of the North-East Frontier Agency.

Elwin, V. (2017). Myths of the north east frontier of India . Delhi: Gyan Publishing House.

Guha, Amalendu. (2015). Medieval and early colonial Assam: Society, polity and economy . Guwahati: Anwesha Publications.

Hussain, Shalim M. (2019). Translating Tanti. In Kamal Kumar Tanti, Post-colonial poems (pp. 45–58). New Delhi: Red River.

Kakati, B. (1921). A new life, letters and a state. In Sankardeva: Vaisnava Saint of Assam . Natesan and Co.

Kakati, B. (1948). The mother goddess Kamakhya: Or, studies in the fusion of Aryan and primitive beliefs of Assam . Guwahati: Lawyer’s Book Stall.

Mackenzie, Alexander. (1995). The north-east frontier of India . New Delhi: Mittal Publications.

Narzary, P. J. (2017, June 29 and 30). Representing marginality: Texts and traditions with reference to Bodo language and literature. Lecture delivered at a Sahitya Akademi seminar on ‘Representing Marginality: Texts and Traditions of Eastern Indian Languages’ at Gauhati University.

Neog, M. (2006). Sri sri Sankardeva . Dibrugarh & Guwahati: Dr. Maheswar Neog Publications Trust.

Saikia, Kamal Ch. (2017, June 29 and 30). Chairperson’s lecture delivered at a Sahitya Akademi seminar on ‘Representing Marginality: Texts and Traditions of Eastern Indian Languages’ at Gauhati University.

Sharma, J. (2012). Empire’s garden: Assam and the making of India . Ranikhet: Permanent Black.

Singh, P. B. (2017, June 29 and 30). Marginality as represented in Manipuri literature: A bird’s eye view. Lecture delivered at a Sahitya Akademi seminar on ‘Representing Marginality: Texts and Traditions of Eastern Indian Languages’ at Gauhati University.

Tanti, Kamal Kumar. (2019). An adivasi & an Assamese. In Kamal Kumar Tanti, Post-colonial poems (pp. 106–109). New Delhi: Red River.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Gauhati University, Guwahati, Assam, India

Dhurjjati Sarma

Senior Research Fellow (Adjunct), ILWS, Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia

Venkat Pulla

Sessional Academic, Charles Darwin University, NT, Australia

Foundation Professor, Brisbane Institute of Strengths Based Practice, NSW, Australia

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

Senior Research Fellow (Adjunct) ILWS, Charles Sturt University, NSW, Australia

Research Consultant & Editor-in-Chief Space and Culture, North Shields, UK

Rituparna Bhattacharyya

Professor, Department of Social Work, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

Sanjai Bhatt

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Sarma, D., Pulla, V. (2020). North East Indians and Their Contribution to Indian Literature. In: Pulla, V., Bhattacharyya, R., Bhatt, S. (eds) Discrimination, Challenge and Response. Mapping Global Racisms. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46251-2_6

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46251-2_6

Published : 15 September 2020

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-46250-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-46251-2

eBook Packages : Behavioral Science and Psychology Behavioral Science and Psychology (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• Skip to main content
• Accessibility Statement
• Screen Reader
• हिंदी रूपांतरण

Special Centre for the Study of North East India

List of courses being offered in Monsoon Semester 2020

SCSNEI is offering the following courses for the Winter semester, 2024

B.A Courses (CREDIT 3)         

M.A Courses (CREDIT 4)                                                     

Ph.D courses (CREDIT 4)

List of  M.A. Courses (Credit 4) which are offered by SCSNEI for the Monsoon Semester 2022

Special Centre for the Study of North East India (SCSNEI) at JNU was established in the year 2018, upgraded from a Programme of research and teaching called North East India Studies Programme (NEISP). In its new form, SCSNEI aims at expanding the horizons of research and teaching on North East India, rare in the country.

The special centre is conceived with a purpose to build corpus of academic works on northeastern region of india. it also aims at holistic understanding of the region by bringing together different epistemic perspectives with strong commitment to multi-disciplinary research. while there are several researches already under taken on the region in different schools and centres of the university, the unique experiment initiated by scsnei is the ‘coming together’ of people and ideas for a better comprehension of the region.to fulfil this objective, scsnei initiates a collaborative exercise to run its academic programmes with the partnership of eight schools of the university, viz. school of language, literature and cultural studies; school of social sciences; school of international studies; school of environmental sciences;  school of arts and aesthetics; school of life sciences; school of bio technology; and school of computational and integrative sciences.scsnei provides a common platform to the faculty members working in the areas of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and other allied disciplines, whose works are directly or indirectly linked to the studies on the region. a further step towards fulfilling the objective is to expand the collaborative works outside the confines of jnu – withother academic and research institutions in the country and abroad., this area studies programme, conceptualised under special circumstances, owns added responsibility of locating north east india in the national and broader regional frames of reference. to bring the region in the centre of national discourses, scsnei has taken up activities of research and teaching that will not only familiarise north east india to the young academics, but also work towards positive intervention on the region and its people with expectations for rich dividend. the special centre shall play the role of a catalyst towards policy intervention by developing new methods and approaches for human development and holistic growth. to fulfil these objectives, scsnei is committed to work closely with state institutions, corporate bodies, civil society organizations and discerning scholars., scsnei focuses on areas of research, such as, social change, religion and statecraft, empowerment politics, regional economic growth, livelihood studies, border trade and state policies, global capital and institutions, conflict, peace and security studies, borderland studies, intercultural discourses, aesthetics and performance studies, traditional knowledge, health, bio-diversity, folk medicine, etc. students and researchers are encouraged not only to conduct in-depth research but also simultaneously develop social commitment to judiciously apply the freshly acquired knowledge., acknowledging existing gaps between the people of the region and the rest of the country scsnei shall focus on programmes that will also adequately emphasize on cultural connectivity and regional awareness. new programmes will be developed to enable capacity building and self-sustenance. scsnei is committed to develop this special centre as a unique institution not only within jnu but also in the entire country – a most vibrant and committed research institute on north east india studies..

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Identity and Marginality in North East India Challenges for Social Science Research

2017, eSS current affairs

Seminar report

Related Papers

Gowhar Fazili

Asmita Bhattacharyya

Artatrana Gochhayat

Identity politics emerged as a scholarly inquiry in social science and humanities mainly in the second half of the twentieth century in the form of multiculturalism, women’s movement, Dalit and Adivasi movements, civil rights, lesbian and gay movements, separatist movements, and violent ethnic and nationalist movements in different parts of the world. The very claim of their movement emanates perhaps from the injustices done to them regarding their social position, vulnerability, marginalization, oppression by the so called cultural imperialism. However, it is in this context that the paper tries to analyze how identity politics developed in different scholarships particularly in social sciences and humanities and how different approaches define the process of identity formation. Along with this the paper examines identity politics in India in terms of caste, tribe, language, religion, region and ethnicity and explains how far and to what extent these identity markers pose a challen...

Dr.Prakash Bhadury

Abigail Murmu

Social exclusion is a multidimensional term that encompasses social, economic, political and cultural spheres. Exclusion is linked to the recognition of social identities, resource allocations and power relations. In most cases, both subjective consciousness and actual inequalities lead to ethnic assertions and extremist activities. Unlike other studies on ethnicity and extremism, the present article tries to understand ethnic assertions in northeast India in the context of rampant social exclusion taking place in the region.

Ruman Sutradhar

Understanding the life of the wage earners or the laboring class, which remains deeply influenced by the process of marginalization in a highly casteist and gendered society like India is relevant due to two vital reasons. One, the wage earners are the victims of marginalization that has resulted from either the denial of; or inequitable distribution of resources; or both; the roots of which actually lie in a complexity of socio-cultural-economic-political framework of society, these people being mostly the victims of structural marginality. In India, members of a specific ‘gender, caste, class, and ethnic identity’ experience structural marginality due to which the laboring class remains the most exploited even though their labour is utilized by every social group of society. In fact, the lowly paid wage earning work of these groups of individuals is due to their being members of a particular or more marginalized groups at a time (Figure 1). Again Indian society having adopted a socialist and democratic form of constitution that pledges to minimize the inequalities in income, to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, among individuals and groups of individuals by Article 38 (2); to secure all workers a living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities by Article 43; to take special care of the SCs, STS and other weaker sections of the society and to protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation by Article 46. Despite this, the ideals of equality, justice and liberty being the core ideals inherent in Indian constitution along with the fundamental rights of non-discrimination and non-exploitation of any individual or group of individuals based on caste, class, gender, race, need a revisit after sixty-five years of the framing of constitution. It is required to check whether these ideals have been implemented so as to benefit the most disadvantaged groups of Indian society. In this regard, to understand the nature and extent of marginalization of the wage earning communities hold relevance because marginalization and development are the two contrasted but interrelated terms, and success of democracy rests on the principles of development of each and every citizen in equal terms with that of the entire nation of India, of course not excluding the small district of Cachar.

S Thianlalmuan Ngaihte , H. Srikanth

This paper interrogates the scholarly writings on ethnicity and ethnic identities in northeast India and points out theoretical limitations in understanding ethnic realities of northeast India. It stresses on the need for more nuanced and eclectic theorization of ethicity and ethnic conflicts in the region.

Mukt Shabd Journal

Dr Sadaf Khalid

A detrimental change in the livelihood pattern is recorded due to the incidences of Liberalization, Privatization, and Globalization (LPG) in India. Acknowledging that LPG did advance global economic growth but in the backdrop also restrained the social upliftment of the impoverished tribal communities, sidelined the minorities, and stimulated marginalization in society. The

Environmental Development

CHANDA G U R U N G GOODRICH

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Nature Empire

Postcolonial Studies

Vinita Damodaran

Ritambhara Hebbar

RELATED TOPICS

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

• DOI: 10.53989/jcp.v2i3.23.4
• Corpus ID: 268846663

Rising Hate Crime in India: A Gender and Religion Perspective

• Anjali Bose , Shruti Singh , Viraat ​ Tripathi
• Published in Journal of Contemporary… 6 September 2023

Related Papers

Showing 1 through 3 of 0 Related Papers

Get more from LabVIEW and LabVIEW+

LabVIEW helps you work more quickly. Spend less time developing tests, automating instruments, analyzing data, and generating reports.

Featured Download

New FlexLogger Lite—Data in Minutes, Zero Coding

The new FlexLogger Lite edition is free companion software for NI data acquisition hardware. Quickly configure, log, and monitor mixed-signal systems with FlexLogger Lite—and upgrade anytime to the full-featured FlexLogger for more complex tasks such as automations, triggers, and alarms.

• Download now
• Compare FlexLogger editions

Featured products

Meet demanding test objectives with the widest portfolio of industry-leading modular instruments and configurable software interfaces.

LabVIEW+ Suite

Get the job done faster with engineering-specific software for measurement, analysis, and test.

DAQ Products

Explore data acquisition products with sensor-specific, conditioned I/O for accurate and precise measurements.

Build What's Next

NI offers the hardware, software, and services that help you turn real-world data into insights that drive your business decisions. Choose from products for desktop design and prototyping to fully automated production test systems.

Shop by Application Area

Data Acquisition and Control

Electronic Test and Instrumentation

Wireless Design and Test

Systems and Data Management

Engineering Education

• Multifunction I/O  Voltage Current Digital I/O Counters and Timers Packaged Controllers Industrial Communication Buses Vehicle Communication Buses
• Avionics Communication Buses Temperature Sound and Vibration Strain, Pressure, and Force Position Displacement  Machine Vision Board-Level Controllers HMIs and Displays
• Signal Conditioning Programming Environments for Data Acquisition and Control Control & Software Suites for Data Acquisition and Control Application Software for Data Acquisition and Control Add-Ons for Data Acquisition and Control SystemLink™ Software
• Oscilloscopes Digital Instruments Frequency Counters Power Supplies and Loads Switches GPIB, Serial, and Ethernet 
• Digital Multimeters Waveform Generators Source Measure Units and LCR Meters FlexRIO Custom Instruments and Processing Programming Environments for Electronic Test and Instrumentation
• Software Suites for Electronic Test and Instrumentation Application Software for Electronic Test and Instrumentation Add-Ons for Electronic Test and Instrumentation Semiconductor Test System SystemLink™ Software
• Vector Signal Transceivers  RF Signal Generators Software Defined Radios Network Analyzers Spectrum and Signal Analyzers
• RF and Microwave Switches Power Sensors RF Signal Conditioning Programming Environments for Wireless Design and Test Test & Software Suites for Wireless Design and Test
• Application Software for Wireless Design and Test Add-Ons for Wireless Design and Test Semiconductor Test System
• SystemLink™ Software Configuration Module SystemLink™ Test Module SystemLink™ Server SystemLink™ TDM DataFinder Module SystemLink™ Asset Module TestStand DIAdem
• Portable Student Devices Radio Prototyping Hardware Engineering Lab Stations LabVIEW Academic Volume License Multisim Education Edition

Elevate Performance with Test

Unlocking the full benefits of test isn’t just about using a better tool. It requires an intentional strategy with automation, standardization, and digital transformation initiatives.

5G Isn't for You

5G isn’t for humans, but it will make human life better. As 5G extends well beyond wireless devices, let’s talk about who—or rather, what—it’s for.

Engineering Ambitiously—from Anywhere

Providing engineers with easier remote access to tools isn’t just useful, it’s vital. Learn about the four factors that enhance productivity during uncertain times.

Breaking Out of Testing Silos

Standardizing your test approach is easier than you may think, and the benefits are worth the investment. Learn how to put standards in place to reduce cost and save time.

Be Prepared for an Uncertain Future

The modern lab isn’t just a renovated workspace—it’s a living and breathing nucleus that bolsters your organization and elevates your tools, people, and processes.

This site uses cookies to offer you a better browsing experience. Learn more about our privacy statement and cookie policy.

What do you need our team of experts to assist you with?

We'll be in touch soon!

A new future of work: The race to deploy AI and raise skills in Europe and beyond

At a glance.

Amid tightening labor markets and a slowdown in productivity growth, Europe and the United States face shifts in labor demand, spurred by AI and automation. Our updated modeling of the future of work finds that demand for workers in STEM-related, healthcare, and other high-skill professions would rise, while demand for occupations such as office workers, production workers, and customer service representatives would decline. By 2030, in a midpoint adoption scenario, up to 30 percent of current hours worked could be automated, accelerated by generative AI (gen AI). Efforts to achieve net-zero emissions, an aging workforce, and growth in e-commerce, as well as infrastructure and technology spending and overall economic growth, could also shift employment demand.

By 2030, Europe could require up to 12 million occupational transitions, double the prepandemic pace. In the United States, required transitions could reach almost 12 million, in line with the prepandemic norm. Both regions navigated even higher levels of labor market shifts at the height of the COVID-19 period, suggesting that they can handle this scale of future job transitions. The pace of occupational change is broadly similar among countries in Europe, although the specific mix reflects their economic variations.

Businesses will need a major skills upgrade. Demand for technological and social and emotional skills could rise as demand for physical and manual and higher cognitive skills stabilizes. Surveyed executives in Europe and the United States expressed a need not only for advanced IT and data analytics but also for critical thinking, creativity, and teaching and training—skills they report as currently being in short supply. Companies plan to focus on retraining workers, more than hiring or subcontracting, to meet skill needs.

Workers with lower wages face challenges of redeployment as demand reweights toward occupations with higher wages in both Europe and the United States. Occupations with lower wages are likely to see reductions in demand, and workers will need to acquire new skills to transition to better-paying work. If that doesn’t happen, there is a risk of a more polarized labor market, with more higher-wage jobs than workers and too many workers for existing lower-wage jobs.

Choices made today could revive productivity growth while creating better societal outcomes. Embracing the path of accelerated technology adoption with proactive worker redeployment could help Europe achieve an annual productivity growth rate of up to 3 percent through 2030. However, slow adoption would limit that to 0.3 percent, closer to today’s level of productivity growth in Western Europe. Slow worker redeployment would leave millions unable to participate productively in the future of work.

Demand will change for a range of occupations through 2030, including growth in STEM- and healthcare-related occupations, among others

This report focuses on labor markets in nine major economies in the European Union along with the United Kingdom, in comparison with the United States. Technology, including most recently the rise of gen AI, along with other factors, will spur changes in the pattern of labor demand through 2030. Our study, which uses an updated version of the McKinsey Global Institute future of work model, seeks to quantify the occupational transitions that will be required and the changing nature of demand for different types of jobs and skills.

Our methodology

We used methodology consistent with other McKinsey Global Institute reports on the future of work to model trends of job changes at the level of occupations, activities, and skills. For this report, we focused our analysis on the 2022–30 period.

Our model estimates net changes in employment demand by sector and occupation; we also estimate occupational transitions, or the net number of workers that need to change in each type of occupation, based on which occupations face declining demand by 2030 relative to current employment in 2022. We included ten countries in Europe: nine EU members—the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and Sweden—and the United Kingdom. For the United States, we build on estimates published in our 2023 report Generative AI and the future of work in America.

We included multiple drivers in our modeling: automation potential, net-zero transition, e-commerce growth, remote work adoption, increases in income, aging populations, technology investments, and infrastructure investments.

Two scenarios are used to bookend the work-automation model: “late” and “early.” For Europe, we modeled a “faster” scenario and a “slower” one. For the faster scenario, we use the midpoint—the arithmetical average between our late and early scenarios. For the slower scenario, we use a “mid late” trajectory, an arithmetical average between a late adoption scenario and the midpoint scenario. For the United States, we use the midpoint scenario, based on our earlier research.

We also estimate the productivity effects of automation, using GDP per full-time-equivalent (FTE) employee as the measure of productivity. We assumed that workers displaced by automation rejoin the workforce at 2022 productivity levels, net of automation, and in line with the expected 2030 occupational mix.

Amid tightening labor markets and a slowdown in productivity growth, Europe and the United States face shifts in labor demand, spurred not only by AI and automation but also by other trends, including efforts to achieve net-zero emissions, an aging population, infrastructure spending, technology investments, and growth in e-commerce, among others (see sidebar, “Our methodology”).

Our analysis finds that demand for occupations such as health professionals and other STEM-related professionals would grow by 17 to 30 percent between 2022 and 2030, (Exhibit 1).

By contrast, demand for workers in food services, production work, customer services, sales, and office support—all of which declined over the 2012–22 period—would continue to decline until 2030. These jobs involve a high share of repetitive tasks, data collection, and elementary data processing—all activities that automated systems can handle efficiently.

Up to 30 percent of hours worked could be automated by 2030, boosted by gen AI, leading to millions of required occupational transitions

By 2030, our analysis finds that about 27 percent of current hours worked in Europe and 30 percent of hours worked in the United States could be automated, accelerated by gen AI. Our model suggests that roughly 20 percent of hours worked could still be automated even without gen AI, implying a significant acceleration.

These trends will play out in labor markets in the form of workers needing to change occupations. By 2030, under the faster adoption scenario we modeled, Europe could require up to 12.0 million occupational transitions, affecting 6.5 percent of current employment. That is double the prepandemic pace (Exhibit 2). Under a slower scenario we modeled for Europe, the number of occupational transitions needed would amount to 8.5 million, affecting 4.6 percent of current employment. In the United States, required transitions could reach almost 12.0 million, affecting 7.5 percent of current employment. Unlike Europe, this magnitude of transitions is broadly in line with the prepandemic norm.

Both regions navigated even higher levels of labor market shifts at the height of the COVID-19 period. While these were abrupt and painful to many, given the forced nature of the shifts, the experience suggests that both regions have the ability to handle this scale of future job transitions.

Businesses will need a major skills upgrade

The occupational transitions noted above herald substantial shifts in workforce skills in a future in which automation and AI are integrated into the workplace (Exhibit 3). Workers use multiple skills to perform a given task, but for the purposes of our quantification, we identified the predominant skill used.

Demand for technological skills could see substantial growth in Europe and in the United States (increases of 25 percent and 29 percent, respectively, in hours worked by 2030 compared to 2022) under our midpoint scenario of automation adoption (which is the faster scenario for Europe).

Demand for social and emotional skills could rise by 11 percent in Europe and by 14 percent in the United States. Underlying this increase is higher demand for roles requiring interpersonal empathy and leadership skills. These skills are crucial in healthcare and managerial roles in an evolving economy that demands greater adaptability and flexibility.

Conversely, demand for work in which basic cognitive skills predominate is expected to decline by 14 percent. Basic cognitive skills are required primarily in office support or customer service roles, which are highly susceptible to being automated by AI. Among work characterized by these basic cognitive skills experiencing significant drops in demand are basic data processing and literacy, numeracy, and communication.

Demand for work in which higher cognitive skills predominate could also decline slightly, according to our analysis. While creativity is expected to remain highly sought after, with a potential increase of 12 percent by 2030, work activities characterized by other advanced cognitive skills such as advanced literacy and writing, along with quantitative and statistical skills, could decline by 19 percent.

Demand for physical and manual skills, on the other hand, could remain roughly level with the present. These skills remain the largest share of workforce skills, representing about 30 percent of total hours worked in 2022. Growth in demand for these skills between 2022 and 2030 could come from the build-out of infrastructure and higher investment in low-emissions sectors, while declines would be in line with continued automation in production work.

Business executives report skills shortages today and expect them to worsen

A survey we conducted of C-suite executives in five countries shows that companies are already grappling with skills challenges, including a skills mismatch, particularly in technological, higher cognitive, and social and emotional skills: about one-third of the more than 1,100 respondents report a shortfall in these critical areas. At the same time, a notable number of executives say they have enough employees with basic cognitive skills and, to a lesser extent, physical and manual skills.

Within technological skills, companies in our survey reported that their most significant shortages are in advanced IT skills and programming, advanced data analysis, and mathematical skills. Among higher cognitive skills, significant shortfalls are seen in critical thinking and problem structuring and in complex information processing. About 40 percent of the executives surveyed pointed to a shortage of workers with these skills, which are needed for working alongside new technologies (Exhibit 4).

Companies see retraining as key to acquiring needed skills and adapting to the new work landscape

Surveyed executives expect significant changes to their workforce skill levels and worry about not finding the right skills by 2030. More than one in four survey respondents said that failing to capture the needed skills could directly harm financial performance and indirectly impede their efforts to leverage the value from AI.

To acquire the skills they need, companies have three main options: retraining, hiring, and contracting workers. Our survey suggests that executives are looking at all three options, with retraining the most widely reported tactic planned to address the skills mismatch: on average, out of companies that mentioned retraining as one of their tactics to address skills mismatch, executives said they would retrain 32 percent of their workforce. The scale of retraining needs varies in degree. For example, respondents in the automotive industry expect 36 percent of their workforce to be retrained, compared with 28 percent in the financial services industry. Out of those who have mentioned hiring or contracting as their tactics to address the skills mismatch, executives surveyed said they would hire an average of 23 percent of their workforce and contract an average of 18 percent.

Occupational transitions will affect high-, medium-, and low-wage workers differently

All ten European countries we examined for this report may see increasing demand for top-earning occupations. By contrast, workers in the two lowest-wage-bracket occupations could be three to five times more likely to have to change occupations compared to the top wage earners, our analysis finds. The disparity is much higher in the United States, where workers in the two lowest-wage-bracket occupations are up to 14 times more likely to face occupational shifts than the highest earners. In Europe, the middle-wage population could be twice as affected by occupational transitions as the same population in United States, representing 7.3 percent of the working population who might face occupational transitions.

Enhancing human capital at the same time as deploying the technology rapidly could boost annual productivity growth

About quantumblack, ai by mckinsey.

QuantumBlack, McKinsey’s AI arm, helps companies transform using the power of technology, technical expertise, and industry experts. With thousands of practitioners at QuantumBlack (data engineers, data scientists, product managers, designers, and software engineers) and McKinsey (industry and domain experts), we are working to solve the world’s most important AI challenges. QuantumBlack Labs is our center of technology development and client innovation, which has been driving cutting-edge advancements and developments in AI through locations across the globe.

Organizations and policy makers have choices to make; the way they approach AI and automation, along with human capital augmentation, will affect economic and societal outcomes.

We have attempted to quantify at a high level the potential effects of different stances to AI deployment on productivity in Europe. Our analysis considers two dimensions. The first is the adoption rate of AI and automation technologies. We consider the faster scenario and the late scenario for technology adoption. Faster adoption would unlock greater productivity growth potential but also, potentially, more short-term labor disruption than the late scenario.

The second dimension we consider is the level of automated worker time that is redeployed into the economy. This represents the ability to redeploy the time gained by automation and productivity gains (for example, new tasks and job creation). This could vary depending on the success of worker training programs and strategies to match demand and supply in labor markets.

We based our analysis on two potential scenarios: either all displaced workers would be able to fully rejoin the economy at a similar productivity level as in 2022 or only some 80 percent of the automated workers’ time will be redeployed into the economy.

Exhibit 5 illustrates the various outcomes in terms of annual productivity growth rate. The top-right quadrant illustrates the highest economy-wide productivity, with an annual productivity growth rate of up to 3.1 percent. It requires fast adoption of technologies as well as full redeployment of displaced workers. The top-left quadrant also demonstrates technology adoption on a fast trajectory and shows a relatively high productivity growth rate (up to 2.5 percent). However, about 6.0 percent of total hours worked (equivalent to 10.2 million people not working) would not be redeployed in the economy. Finally, the two bottom quadrants depict the failure to adopt AI and automation, leading to limited productivity gains and translating into limited labor market disruptions.

Four priorities for companies

The adoption of automation technologies will be decisive in protecting businesses’ competitive advantage in an automation and AI era. To ensure successful deployment at a company level, business leaders can embrace four priorities.

Understand the potential. Leaders need to understand the potential of these technologies, notably including how AI and gen AI can augment and automate work. This includes estimating both the total capacity that these technologies could free up and their impact on role composition and skills requirements. Understanding this allows business leaders to frame their end-to-end strategy and adoption goals with regard to these technologies.

Plan a strategic workforce shift. Once they understand the potential of automation technologies, leaders need to plan the company’s shift toward readiness for the automation and AI era. This requires sizing the workforce and skill needs, based on strategically identified use cases, to assess the potential future talent gap. From this analysis will flow details about the extent of recruitment of new talent, upskilling, or reskilling of the current workforce that is needed, as well as where to redeploy freed capacity to more value-added tasks.

Prioritize people development. To ensure that the right talent is on hand to sustain the company strategy during all transformation phases, leaders could consider strengthening their capabilities to identify, attract, and recruit future AI and gen AI leaders in a tight market. They will also likely need to accelerate the building of AI and gen AI capabilities in the workforce. Nontechnical talent will also need training to adapt to the changing skills environment. Finally, leaders could deploy an HR strategy and operating model to fit the post–gen AI workforce.

Pursue the executive-education journey on automation technologies. Leaders also need to undertake their own education journey on automation technologies to maximize their contributions to their companies during the coming transformation. This includes empowering senior managers to explore automation technologies implications and subsequently role model to others, as well as bringing all company leaders together to create a dedicated road map to drive business and employee value.

AI and the toolbox of advanced new technologies are evolving at a breathtaking pace. For companies and policy makers, these technologies are highly compelling because they promise a range of benefits, including higher productivity, which could lift growth and prosperity. Yet, as this report has sought to illustrate, making full use of the advantages on offer will also require paying attention to the critical element of human capital. In the best-case scenario, workers’ skills will develop and adapt to new technological challenges. Achieving this goal in our new technological age will be highly challenging—but the benefits will be great.

Eric Hazan is a McKinsey senior partner based in Paris; Anu Madgavkar and Michael Chui are McKinsey Global Institute partners based in New Jersey and San Francisco, respectively; Sven Smit is chair of the McKinsey Global Institute and a McKinsey senior partner based in Amsterdam; Dana Maor is a McKinsey senior partner based in Tel Aviv; Gurneet Singh Dandona is an associate partner and a senior expert based in New York; and Roland Huyghues-Despointes is a consultant based in Paris.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

Generative AI and the future of work in America

The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier

What every CEO should know about generative AI