Back to the future: Challenges and opportunities for the future of work addressed in ILO sectoral meetings since 2010

This working paper summarises how issues directly related to the future of work have been discussed by ILO constituents in sectoral meetings held since 2010, as further material for reflection by the Global Commission on the Future of Work, established in September 2017 to work around four themes: (1) work and society; (2) decent jobs for all; (3) the organization of work and production; and (4) the governance of work. It has also been prepared to inform ILO constituents in specific sectors, who in recent years have launched their own debates and exchanges at national, regional and global levels on the future of work.The paper takes a sectoral perspective and contains the following sections: (a) a description of the methodology used and the scope of the paper; (b) a brief overview of the many meetings and publications that have addressed the future of work, followed by a description of how the rapidly changing world of work has been analysed and discussed by constituents from six selected sectors: mechanical and electrical engineering (electronics), health services, media and culture, retail commerce, tourism, and road transport; (c) a summary of how key drivers of change – climate change, demographics, globalization, and technological advances – have been addressed in sectoral meetings and report; (d) a discussion of the critical challenges and opportunities affecting the future of work that arise from these drivers of change; it gives examples of how these challenges and opportunities have been discussed in past sectoral meetings and research, and how they relate to the Commissions four themes; and (e) recommendations on how sectoral constituents and the ILO itself can further enhance their contribution to the ILO Centenary Initiative on the Future of Work in general and to the work of the Commission in particular