Always talking about the technological gap in Latin America: Economic science warns that the real problem lies in people.
For years, diagnoses of digital lag in Latin America have focused on infrastructure. However, a new study suggests that the most urgent challenge is not technical. The deficit of digital skills threatens to leave the region behind in the midst of the artificial intelligence boom.
A deeper gap than connectivity
The numbers speak for themselves. Less than 10% have fiber optics at home, hindering the adoption of emerging technologies.
But the most alarming issue is not the lack of infrastructure, but the scarcity of skills. According to the research, in countries like Ecuador and Peru, only between 5% and 7% of the population reach basic digital skills.
The middle-income trap and stagnation
The region achieves certain economic advances, but lacks a virtuous circle connecting education, productivity, and innovation.
However, it also threatens to automate up to 114 million jobs. The most exposed sectors are those that depend on routine tasks: manufacturing, retail, or administrative services. The paradox is clear: the same technology that promises growth can increase precariousness if not managed with adequate training.
More than technology: a skills strategy
It insists that increasing technological coverage is not enough. The key is to train human capital capable of taking advantage of it. To do this, it proposes classifying digital skills into three levels: technical (programming, data analysis, cybersecurity), soft (critical thinking, communication, teamwork), and general (digital literacy).
Without a common framework organizing these categories, the international experience is clear: South Korea and Europe advanced thanks to long-term national strategies, while in Latin America isolated initiatives prevail.
An urgent decision for the region
It could become a productivity engine for Latin America, but only if the region invests in human capacities at the same pace as infrastructure. Otherwise, it risks being reduced to an exporter of raw materials, relegated in global value chains.
The digital future does not depend solely on cables or satellites: it depends on people who know how to use them. That, according to experts, is the big pending debt.
