Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran has urged young Indians to focus on trade skills and human-centric professions, saying the era that heavily favoured software jobs and MBA degrees is coming to an end as artificial intelligence reshapes the job market.

In an interview with ANI, Nageswaran said India must strengthen its manufacturing competitiveness as the global economy becomes increasingly fragmented and inward-looking. He also stressed the need to tackle both unemployment and unemployability at the same time.

"We have no luxury of worrying about only one of the two issues. We must address both. The answer to an unemployment problem is not to follow the old method because capital intensity of growth is, unfortunately, that's how the world is...

"This country, compared to other countries which actually have grown successful, take Switzerland, take Germany, take Japan or Korea or even China, they place a lot of respectability on trade skills. In this country, we give them little respect. If you are a welder, a plumber, an electrician, and a carpenter, etc., India doesn't consider [them].

... You know, so we kind of made it unacceptable, unrespectable, and unfashionable. I think that needs to change," Nageswaran told ANI.

Highlighting the impact of technological change on employment, he said trade-based and human-facing roles would continue to offer opportunities despite advances in artificial intelligence.

"The technological advance cannot take away your employability. So you should equip yourself with trade skills. The globalising world gave us an advantage for our software, computer science or MBA education. But that era is over. It's about trade skills. It's about soft skills, which AI cannot easily replace,...