Job opportunities through Industry 4.0

In the networked factory of tomorrow, qualified specialists have the best prospects of finding a job. This is shown by a representative survey of 559 industrial companies with 100 or more employees, commissioned by the digital association Bitkom in the run-up to this year's Hannover Messe.

According to the survey, 81% of respondents say that Industry 4.0 will create new jobs for well-trained specialists. At the same time, job profiles in production are changing.

For example, 94% of those surveyed believe that working in the networked factory increasingly requires interdisciplinary skills. The term Industry 4.0 stands for the fourth industrial revolution, in the course of which traditional production is merging with the internet. This is fundamentally changing work processes and work content in the factory.

"IT specialists for Industry 4.0 have the best opportunities on the job market. Machine-to-machine software developers, data scientists, IT security experts, human-machine interaction designers and platform and ecosystem experts will be in demand in every factory in the future"

says Frank Riemensperger, member of the Bitkom Executive Committee.

"The more networking progresses, the more the boundaries between the disciplines of computer science and mechanical engineering become blurred. New job profiles are emerging in order to master the complex networking and the new platforms.

Policymakers must also respond to this, for example by setting up new hybrid degree courses and digital learning workshops in factories."

Opinions differ among those surveyed as to how Industry 4.0 will affect the group of lower-skilled employees: every second company (47 percent) assumes that Industry 4.0 will lead to the loss of jobs for lower-skilled employees.

In contrast, 42 percent say that thanks to Industry 4.0, complex tasks can also be performed by less qualified personnel in the future.

"IT-based assistance systems such as smart glasses can, for example, guide you step by step through the repair or maintenance of a system. This means that even less experienced employees can take on very demanding tasks"

says Riemensperger.