Workplace automation in the developed world is adding to career anxiety among young people, many of whom seem to feel they will be worse off than their parents as a result of technological change.

发达世界工作场所的自动化正在加剧年轻人的职业焦虑感，许多年轻人似乎觉得，技术变革将导致他们的境况比父辈差。

But youngsters in big emerging markets are significantly more confident that they have the skills needed for a successful career, according to a study of 8,700 apparently largely well-educated young people in nine developed and developing nations commissioned by the Indian IT services firm Infosys.

但印度IT服务公司Infosys委托相关机构对9个国家（包括发达国家和发展中国家）的8700名显然多数都受过良好教育的年轻人进行了调查，结果显示，大型新兴市场的年轻人要自信得多，他们相信自己拥有事业成功所需的技能。

This bullishness stems largely from their greater focus on technological skills, the study says. Three quarters of young people in India and China want to develop skills in data science and analytics, compared with less than half in France and Germany.

研究表明，这种自信很大程度上源于他们更加注重技术能力。在印度和中国，四分之三的年轻人希望提升数据科学和分析方面的技能，而在法国和德国，这一比例不足50%。

Infosys’s upbeat claims about IT potential in developing countries contrasts with the bleak assessment of a UN report in 2013. This warned they were particularly vulnerable to skills shortages given that people with IT skills tended to pursue opportunities abroad.

Infosys对发展中国家IT行业的发展潜力表示乐观，这与2013年联合国发表的一份悲观报告形成鲜明对比。该报告警告称，鉴于拥有IT技能的人倾向于寻求海外工作机遇，发展中国家尤其容易遭遇技术人员短缺的局面。

But citizens of developing nations are making use of technology and online resources to train themselves, increasing the stock of skilled people. This is particularly noticeable in China, where there is a proliferation of fast-growing digital education companies, such as 5Win. This provides online tuition to nearly 1m users in subjects including IT.

但发展中国家的居民正在利用技术和网络资源进行自我培训，使得技术人员数量越来越多。这种情况在中国尤为明显——在中国，沃赢科技(5Win)等快速发展的数字化教育公司激增。沃赢科技为近100万用户提供IT等领域的在线教育。

The China-focused analysis firm iResearch says that the number of people studying online in the country rose 21 per cent last year to 72m. Most online students are outside larger cities, Chinese group Baidu said in separate research, suggesting that the internet is allowing skills to be acquired evenly across the nation.

专注于中国市场的艾瑞咨询(iResearch)表示，中国在线学习人数去年增长21%，达到7200万人。中国公司百度(Baidu)在另外一份研究报告中表示，大多数在线学生并不在大城市——这表明互联网正使得中国各地的人们都能同样地获得技能。

The public sector is also playing an important role in helping Asian students to make the most of technology, says Zoraini Wati Abas, who has worked on integrating technology into university courses in Indonesia and Malaysia. Poor Indonesian students who struggle to afford expensive textbooks have benefited as universities rely more on digital resources, she says, while Indonesia’s government is encouraging universities to set up online courses that can be used by people who cannot benefit from conventional campus-based tuition.

在印尼和马来西亚致力于将技术整合进大学课程的佐拉尼•瓦提•阿巴斯(Zoraini Wati Abas)表示，在帮助亚洲学生充分利用技术方面，公共部门也扮演着关键角色。她说，随着大学更加依赖于数字化资源，印尼那些负担不起昂贵课本的穷学生因此受益。同时，印尼政府鼓励大学为那些无法受益于传统校园教学的人开设在线课程。

Cheap smartphones have enabled millions of relatively poor young people to go online. Many are more interested in chatting with friends on social media than in educational resources but these activities can also provide them with useful skills, even if they do not realise it, says Bunmi Banjo, who works on digital education for Google in Nigeria.

廉价智能手机让数百万相对贫穷的年轻人能够上网。谷歌尼日利亚数字化教育业务的布米•巴尼奥(Bunmi Banjo)表示，许多人更感兴趣的是与朋友在社交媒体上聊天，而非使用网上教育资源，但这些活动也为他们提供了有用的技能，即便他们没有意识到这一点。

The US technology group in April announced plans to help train 1m young Africans in IT skills such as digital marketing. “People in Africa are generally optimistic about the future — there’s a sense that Africa is growing, and technology definitely plays a big role in that. It’s the next frontier,” Ms Banjo says.

谷歌今年4月公布了相关计划，将帮助培训100万名非洲年轻人，让他们掌握数字化营销等IT技能。巴尼奥表示：“在非洲的人们总体上对未来感到乐观——他们觉得非洲正在发展，技术无疑在其中扮演重要角色。这是下一个前沿领域。”

In South Africa, the Google-backed Digify Africa project is focusing on training that will help young people find work, crucial in a country where youth unemployment is over 50 per cent. For many, the learning curve is extremely steep, says programme manager Mazuba Haanyama. “There are some sessions where people don’t have email addresses. How would you research the range of work you want if you don’t know how to [use] the internet?”

在南非，谷歌支持的Digify Africa项目着眼于开展帮助年轻人找到工作的培训，这在一个年轻人失业率超过50%的国家里至关重要。项目经理马祖巴•哈恩亚麻(Mazuba Haanyama)表示，对许多人来说，学习曲线极为陡峭。“有些培训上人们都没有电子邮件地址。如果你不知道如何（使用）互联网，你怎么研究自己想要从事哪些工作？”

Google has rolled out regional-language tools in India for the growing number of Indians with smartphones who are not comfortable using English or Hindi. Such efforts reflect a growing awareness in Silicon Valley of the importance of emerging markets.

谷歌为越来越多拥有智能手机但不擅长使用英语或者印地语的印度人推出了方言工具。此类努力反映出硅谷日益认识到新兴市场的重要性。

But the skills being developed abroad are seen by some as a threat to America’s tech dominance. Of the US technology executives surveyed by law firm DLA Piper in 2014, two-thirds saw a “significant or moderate threat” from emerging tech centres in Asia, South America and Europe.

但一些人认为，其他地区技能的发展将威胁美国在技术领域的主导地位。在2014年接受欧华律所(DLA Piper)调查的美国科技公司高管当中，三分之二认为亚洲、南美和欧洲的新兴科技中心是“中重度威胁”。

In some emerging markets, however, there are concerns about whether young people have the skills needed to compete internationally.

然而，在一些新兴市场，人们担心年轻人是否拥有在国际上竞争所需的技能。

In India, technology has been a route to prosperity for thousands since IT services groups such as Infosys rose to global prominence in the 1990s, providing support services for developed-world companies. But as they move into more advanced fields such as data analytics, companies are now struggling to find graduates with the necessary skills, says Nirmal Singh, chief executive of Wheebox, which provides skill assessment services to employers. “Formal education is struggling with this,” he says, noting that companies such as Infosys invest heavily in extended training for new recruits.

在印度，自上世纪90年代Infosys等IT服务集团在全球崭露头角、为发达国家的企业提供技术支持服务以来，成千上万的人凭借技术走向成功。但Wheebox首席执行官尼马尔•辛格(Nirmal Singh)表示，随着这些企业进入数据分析等更高级的领域，它们现在很难找到拥有必要技能的毕业生。他说：“正式教育正在艰难应对这个问题”，他指出Infosys等公司在新员工扩展培训方面进行了大笔投资。Wheebox为雇主们提供技能评估服务。

In Thailand, meanwhile, the enthusiasm for IT training could prove shortlived once young graduates realise that there are not enough jobs on offer, says Jirapon Sunkpho, a professor in the innovation college at Bangkok’s Thammasat university.

与此同时，曼谷法政大学(Thammasat)创新学院的希拉蓬•森克弗教授(Jirapon Sunkpho)表示，在泰国，一旦年轻毕业生意识到没有足够的工作机会，IT培训热情就可能转瞬即逝。

“The number of students graduating with IT-related degrees is about 30,000 a year but the total number of IT jobs in Thailand is only about 50,000,” he says. One problem is cuts in state funding for Thai universities, which have prompted them to ramp up enrolment in popular areas such as IT to increase fee revenue. “We produce more graduates than the market can take,” Mr Sunkpho says.

他说：“每年的IT相关专业毕业生大约有3万，但泰国IT职位总数只有大约5万。”一个问题是泰国政府削减了对大学的拨款，这促使高校扩大IT等热门专业的招生来增加收入。森克弗表示：“我们的毕业生数量超过了市场能够吸收的数量。”