Documents technological change 1 757 results

"As a result of technological progress and economic change, many new occupations have emerged in the labour market, while others have become redundant and disappeared. Along with these new and emerging occupations, new skills have been introduced that can be developed through formal education, on-the-job training or learning-by-doing (or in some other way). This paper presents the Occupations Observatory, which we have created with the aim of providing up-to-date information on these changes in the labour market – reflected in the rise of new occupations and their corresponding skill changes – to policy-makers, researchers, educational institutes, job seekers and many other stakeholders (and how occupational dynamics feed into the occupational classification schemes). We focus not only on new occupations that did not exist before but also on new occupations in terms of recognition, awareness and importance.



This paper was written within the framework of the InGRID project. Funded by the European Union's 7th Framework Programme for Research, the InGRID project (Inclusive Growth Research Infrastructure Diffusion) involves 17 European partners, including CEPS. It aims to integrate and innovate existing, but distributed European social sciences research infrastructures on ‘Poverty and Living Conditions' and ‘Working Conditions and Vulnerability' by providing transnational data access, organising mutual knowledge exchange activities and improving methods and tools for comparative research."

"This paper sets out to analyse the digital economy and changes in work by sifting elements of continuity from others that are radically new. Aspects examined are: genuinely new features encountered in the digital economy model; major instances of technological change observable in the working environment; new forms of work in the digital economy; distance and employment relationships; challenges entailed in regulating a labour world shorn of its customary structures. The study concludes with some considerations on the meaning of work in environments characterised by an increasing interplay of the virtual and the real."

"The Internet and the use of portable computers, mobile phones and tablets have increased the importance of ‘new ways of work'. This work, which is place- and time-independent, can lead to more autonomy and greater flexibility for workers, but it also carries serious physical as well as psychosocial risks according to this working paper.
The author of this report focuses on the hidden dangers of these new ways of working: techno-stress, techno-addiction, the blurring of boundaries between work and private life, burn-outs and overtiredness, safety risks and ergonomic problems.
The paper analyses the European legislation on safe and healthy working conditions and how it can be applied to this new way of working. Last, but not least, it underlines the importance of this new societal issue for workers' representatives."

"Humans are accustomed to being tool bearers, but what happens when machines become tool bearers, calculating human labour via the use of big data and people analytics by metrics? The Quantified Self in Precarity highlights how, whether it be in insecure `gig' work or office work, such digitalisation is not an inevitable process - nor is it one that necessarily improves working conditions. Indeed, through unique research and empirical data, Moore demonstrates how workplace quantification leads to high turnover rates, workplace rationalisation and worker stress and anxiety, with these issues linked to increased rates of subjective and objective precarity. Scientific management asked us to be efficient. Now, we are asked to be agile. But what does this mean for the everyday lives we lead? With a fresh perspective on how technology and the use of technology for management and self-management changes the `quantified', precarious workplace today, The Quantified Self in Precarity will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in fields such as Science and Technology, Organisation Management, Sociology and Politics."

"Are we currently living through a new industrial and technological revolution? Does it differ qualitatively from similar revolutions in the past? How can we gauge its political implications? Researchers working within the school of evolutionary economics, in particular those who embrace the concept of techno-economic paradigms, regard the ongoing digitalisation of the economy not as a new revolution, but as the turning point between the installation period and the deployment period of a paradigm based on information and communication technologies. It is not the innovations which determine the form taken by the turning point and its duration, but instead our capacity to couple them with ambitions for economic and societal growth on a scale similar to those which served as guiding beacons during the deployment period of the previous paradigm, in the aftermath of World War II. This type of growth is qualitatively different from what we have seen before, being both socially inclusive and ecologically sustainable, and therefore involving a convergence of the digital and ecological transitions."

"All of a sudden, everybody's talking about the gig economy. From taxi drivers to pizza deliverers to the unemployed, we are all aware of the huge changes that it is driving in our lives as workers, consumers and citizens.

This is the first comprehensive overview of this highly topical subject. Drawing upon years of research, stories from gig workers, and a review of the key trends and debates, Jamie Woodcock and Mark Graham shed light on how the gig economy came to be, how it works and what it's like to work in it. They show that, although it has facilitated innovative new services and created jobs for millions, it is not without cost. It allows businesses and governments to generate value while passing significant risk and responsibility onto the workers that make it possible. This is not, however, an argument for turning back the clock. Instead, the authors outline four strategies that can produce a fairer platform economy that works for everyone. "

"Whilst only in the second decade of the 21st century, we have seen significant and fundamental change in the way we work, where we work, how we work and the conditions of work. The continued advancements of (smart) technology and artificial intelligence, globalisation and deregulation can provide a ‘sleek' view of the world of work. This paradigm can deliver the opportunity to both control work and provide new challenges in this emerging virtual and global workplace with 24/7 connectivity, as the boundaries of the traditional organisation ‘melt' away.

Throughout the developed world the notions of work and employment are becoming increasingly separated and for some this will provide new opportunities in entrepreneurial and self-managed work. However, the alternate or ‘bleak' perspectives is a world of work where globalisation and technology work together to eliminate or minimise employment, underpinning standardised employment with less and less stable or secure work, typified by the rise of the ‘gig' economy and creating more extreme work, in terms of working hours, conditions and rewards. These aspects of work are likely to have a significant negative impact on the workforce in these environments.

These transformations are creating renewed interest in how work and the workforce is organised and managed and its relationship to employment in a period when all predictions are that the pace of change will only accelerate."

"The digital transformation of Europe's economies and societies is accelerating. It is entering a next phase, fuelled by a fusion of technologies that gradually blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres and push the frontier of what computers are capable of doing. These new technologies – and the new business models they create, building on the use of data – are
progressively coming to maturity for at-scale deployment, and will increasingly impact all sectors of the economy. In section 2 of this report, we discuss a set of such high-impact technologies and applications, for example, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, advanced robotics, virtual and augmented reality, and their potential impact on Europe's economy, the labour market, and wider society."