Human development for the fourth industrial revolution: Which way for Sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT

In both developed and developing countries, the fourth industrial revolution has brought serious concerns about human development. Although the fourth industrial revolution has the propensity to enhance human well-being in sustainable and innovative ways, nearly half of Africa's work is vulnerable to innovations of the digital wave. The study examined the impact of human development on fourth industrial revolution in sub-Saharan African countries, using time series data spanning from 2003 to 2019. Data was analysed using fully modified ordinary least (FMOLS) technique. The findings of the study revealed that human development has a positive but insignificant influence on the fourth industrial revolution. The article promotes awareness of the steps necessary to speed up the development of a relevant, requisite and competitive workforce for industry 4.0.

KEYWORDS:

• Fourth industrial revolution
• Industry 4.0
• human development
• skills development
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgement

The support of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence in Human Development towards this research/activity is hereby acknowledged. Opinions expressed and conclusions arrived at, are those of the author and are not necessarily to be attributed to the CoE in Human Development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).