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We find that one third of Finnish employment is highly susceptible to computerization in the next decade or two. While this share is large, it is ten percentage points less than the corresponding share in the United States, which reflects cross-country differences in occupational structures. Low wage and low skill occupations appear more threatened. Service jobs are relatively more sheltered than manufacturing jobs. The estimated impacts do not necessarily imply future mass unemployment, since the approach employed does not take into account changes in the task content within occupations or the evolution in the mix of occupations. It also ignores powerful societal forces, such as prevailing regulation and established organizational structures, hindering technological advance. Despite these caveats, our findings suggest major future changes in Finnish employment.

In this paper, we highlight some issues related to the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the future of work. First, we recognize the progress based on AI technologies and the anisotropy of the progress made in various areas of human activities. Driven by technological advances and massive investments, AI creates asymmetries that transform the labor market both in terms of content and in terms of geographical location. We examine the technological aspects in depth, because it often happens that the common perception of the AI ​​does not match the actual level of technical preparation. This is usually the case with any new technology. We dedicate a section to the analysis of the main limitations of the current IA, including the need for large amounts of data annotated and a massive computing power and the effort required to apply AI to each new problem or domain. We describe the potential of the technology of AI and its potential application areas (sometimes real), ranging from data analysis to robotics, through engineering, genetics, changes analysis climate, etc. Regarding the impact on the labor market, it is clear that the AI ​​is already bringing tangible benefits to certain companies and improves service levels for consumers. Furthermore, there is no single interpretation of how things will evolve. Predicting the spread of technology, and in particular its impact depends on a series of external factors, including new technological advances to overcome existing limitations, but also political and economic factors (regulation, availability of funds , cost / benefit aspects, etc.). Our analysis of the risks and benefits of AI for work and employment based on the assumption that, in most contexts, we must take into account the challenges of achieving genuine complementarity between man and machine through organizational choices and lifelong learning. [googletranslate_en]

This paper reviews trends and developments in both hours of work and the organization of working time (working time arrangements) and considers their implications for the future of work. Since the Industrial Revolution there has been a downward trend in hours of work (in those countries with longitudinal data on working hours), which moved in tandem with increases in wages and productivity – creating a virtuous cycle. In recent decades, however, this trend has ceased or even reversed in some cases. This has been accompanied by a bifurcation of working hours, with substantial portions of the global workforce working either excessively long hours (more than 48 hours per week), which particularly affects men, or short hours/part-time work (less than 35 hours per week), which predominantly impacts women. Regarding the organization of working time, there has been a diversification in working time arrangements, with a movement away from the standard workweek consisting of fixed working hours each day for a fixed number of days and towards various forms of “flexible” working time arrangements (e.g. new forms of shift work, hours averaging, flexi-time arrangements, compressed workweeks, on-call work) along with demands for extended and even 24/7 availability, with widely divergent effects depending on the specific arrangement. The other key emerging issue regarding the organization of working time concerns the impact of new information and communications technologies (New ICTs), such as smartphones and tablet computers, which enable constant connectivity. These New ICTs have resulted in a blurring of the boundaries between paid working time and both the times and spaces that are normally reserved for personal life. The paper raises a question as to whether, given the impacts of recent technological developments on employment, the resumption of the historical trend towards an overall reduction of working hours has become an economic and a social imperative. This would require public policies promoting the reduction of working hours, particularly for those workers working excessively long hours, as well as some basic guarantees regarding minimum working hours for those working in part-time jobs with very short hours. Such policies need to be combined with both policies and practical guidance regarding how to develop balanced working time arrangements that ensure minimum periods of rest, including paid leave, and can benefit both workers and enterprises.

This report considers the impact of telework/ICT-mobile work (T/ICTM) on the world of work. T/ICTM can be defined as the use of ICT – such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers – for the purposes of work outside the employer’s premises. The report synthesises research carried out by Eurofound’s network of European correspondents in 10 EU Member States – Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK – and by ILO country experts in Argentina, Brazil, India, Japan and the US. These contributors were asked to review and summarise the findings of data and research literature on the subject of T/ICTM in their respective countries.

Communities across Canada need a national strategy to ensure the move to a zero-carbon economy leaves no one behind. For the first time, this report uses census data to identify the regions in each province with the greatest reliance on fossil fuel jobs. The new analysis comes after the federal government announced last fall it will launch a task force in 2018 on a “just transition” policy framework for certain sectors. In general, the broad goal of a just transition is to ensure an equitable, productive outcome for all workers in the decarbonized future.

The world of work continues to change at speed, and advances in technology will continue to stretch what is possible. In light of these rapid changes, an agile culture remains a critical organizational competency. Yet agility alone doesn't guarantee success. A continued emphasis on productivity and incremental reactions to the current business environment are two mindsets that keep business treading water rather than swimming in the fast lane. The transformations that will help organizations swiftly and confidently embrace the future involve plotting a path to what customers will value tomorrow. One way companies are forgoing ahead is by creating integrated people strategies that pay attention to today's needs, while tipping the balance in favour of investing for tomorrow.

This exploratory piece of research, undertaken by the Institute of Employment Studies, draws together a wide range of evidence on the importance of skills for the self-employed. This is one of the most comprehensive reviews and syntheses undertaken in the UK of the evidence on the relationships between skills and self-employment. It provides an invaluable resource to inform policy in this area covering business start-up, support for the unemployed to become self-employed, enterprise education, and business growth.

The world of work is in a state of flux, which is causing considerable anxiety—and with good reason. There is growing polarization of labor-market opportunities between high- and low-skill jobs, unemployment and underemployment especially among young people, stagnating incomes for a large proportion of households, and income inequality. Migration and its effects on jobs has become a sensitive political issue in many advanced economies. And from Mumbai to Manchester, public debate rages about the future of work and whether there will be enough jobs to gainfully employ everyone. he development of automation enabled by technologies including robotics and artificial intelligence brings the promise of higher productivity (and with productivity, economic growth), increased efficiencies, safety, and convenience. But these technologies also raise difficult questions about the broader impact of automation on jobs, skills, wages, and the nature of work itself. Many activities that workers carry out today have the potential to be automated. At the same time, job-matching sites such as LinkedIn and Monster are changing and expanding the way individuals look for work and companies identify and recruit talent. Independent workers are increasingly choosing to offer their services on digital platforms including Upwork, Uber, and Etsy and, in the process, challenging conventional ideas about how and where work is undertaken. For policy makers, business leaders, and workers themselves, these shifts create considerable uncertainty, alongside the potential benefits. This briefing note aims to provide a fact base on the multiple trends and forces buffeting the world of work drawing on recent research by the McKinsey Global Institute and others.

This report sets out the findings of a study into the motivators and barriers to participation in workplace learning by low skilled employees. Low skilled in the UK is usually considered to be below NVQ level 2 qualifications. The study was carried out by the Employment Research Institute at Edinburgh Napier University on behalf of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The report presents the results of a survey of both employee and employer views on participation in workplace learning in the care sector in north east England and the hotel sector in Yorkshire and the Humber region. The hotels and catering sector has the highest relative and absolute skill gaps in low skilled occupations, with some 63 per cent of staff suffering skills gaps. In contrast, the care sector has an apparent strong training culture, with care staff expected to progress to NVQ level 3 and only five per cent of low skilled staff suffered a skills gap.