"In the German government's coalition agreement, the word 'transformation' is a key term that appears 42 times in different contexts. The transformation of the economy in the face of numerous challenges is undoubtedly necessary. However, it also raises fears of painful changes, unemployment, loss of status and the devaluation of individual qualifications. In this report, the Board looks at the upheavals to be expected as a result of the digital transformation, its impact on the future of work, and how the state can respond to the anticipated challenges.

Section II first provides a classification as well as a brief overview of the labour market effects of previous episodes of the digital transformation. Section III characterises the properties of currently early-stage technologies that are likely to be more widely deployed in the future and discusses their distributional effects and potential impact on the labour market. Section IV is devoted to the Board's recommendations for economic policy action, and section V summarises them in condensed form."

Support: Digital