Brazil should have to circumvent the unavailability of skilled labor force able to deploy a national industry tablet by 2014, according to the schedule established last week by the ministries of Science and Technology (MCT) and Development Industry and Foreign Trade (MDIC).
For the researcher João Maria de Oliveira, the group studying the information economy at the Institute of Applied Economic Research (IPEA), "we have no skilled labor to support the continuity of the installation process" of the tablet, the portable computer form of pad and touch screen.
"Nationalization will require great efforts for training of manpower," agrees Rogério César de Souza, chief economist at the Institute for Studies in Industrial Development. He considers the availability of the workforce for the high-tech industry in Brazil "a very delicate issue in our development, yet to be resolved."
"I believe there is currently a shortage of manpower in almost all areas of activity, which certainly implies some difficulty in finding interested and qualified for the development and production of the tablet industry," confirms Fabio Bedran, administrative manager of the mining company MXT, which announced the fabrication of the device to the corporate market.
As Bedran, the production of tablets requires the recruitment of electrical engineers, radio engineers and telecommunications engineers, to the development of devices in the device, and also of people trained in computer science and information system for application development and programs.
Besides the project, there is a process equipment manufacturing. At this stage, we must control and automation engineers, and for the testing phase, we need more graduates in computer science and electronics technicians. The assembly line that uses robots and is not labor intensive, and the finalization of the product line require workers with secondary education.
Estimates of the Federal Council of Engineering and Architecture is that Brazil has a deficit of 20 000 engineers per year. The lack of engineers and other professionals to develop designs and manufacturing processes of the tablet can force the importation of labor, as admitted to the Brazilian Association of Electrical and Electronics Industry and the Ministry of Science and Technology.
For Secretary of the Ministry of Information Policy, Virgilio Almeida, another possibility is to "train professionals outside the country and bring them back to plant operation more sophisticated." According to him, "the MCT will seek to create programs that support companies to do that."
The University of São Paulo (USP), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) and Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) are considered centers of excellence for training in higher level of manpower for the industry tablet.
As for the training needs of most electronic technicians, the provision of courses is being verified by the Ministry of Education to prepare for the deployment of the National Access to Technical Education and Employment (Pronatec), yet to be voted on in Congress.
In the opinion of the investigator João Maria de Oliveira, IPEA, "the Pronatec help," but the decision on the training of more professionals should follow a strategy of l5 years, showing up two areas of priority to the domestic industry tablet, in which the country can become more competitive in the long term.
