Artificial intelligence (AI) will not lead to job losses, Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya assured the Indian parliament on Monday, stressing that the new technology will instead create new employment opportunities.
Answering a question from Kalyan Banerjee, a member of the pan-India Trinamool Congress, in the Lower House of the Rajya Sabha, Mandavida drew parallels with past technological advances: “When the internet came, there were similar concerns about unemployment. When computers were introduced, the same concerns arose. But now we see that these advancements have led to increased employment opportunities. AI applications will similarly create new job opportunities,” he said.
In response to Chief Minister Banerjee's concern over the lack of jobs in West Bengal, Mandaviya criticised the ongoing protests in the state, which he said could have a negative impact on job creation. He noted that given West Bengal's population, the state should attract more investments and industries.
Mandavida also highlighted the Modi government's efforts to reduce unemployment. He said the labour force participation rate has increased to 44 percent from 38 percent in 2017-18 and attributed the improvement to the government's efforts.
According to the RBI's KLEMS database, India will create 47 million new jobs in FY23-24, the highest annual job creation in the last four decades. However, the data is provisional and does not include a detailed sector-wise breakdown, raising doubts about its accuracy.
While Mandaviya is optimistic that AI will create job opportunities, the KLEMS database data is preliminary, making it difficult to directly attribute this record job creation to AI. Without a detailed sectoral breakdown, it is not possible to say for sure whether AI is a major contributor to these new jobs or if other factors are at play. Until more detailed data is available, the exact impact of AI on job creation remains unclear.
