With the digital transformation of society and business come multiple challenges that must be met to stay ahead of the curve. As a result of these needs, the European Commission convened a high-level group made up of ten experts who began their journey in May 2018 with the aim of analyzing the changes that this process is generating in the labor market. Almost a year later, the body has presented a comprehensive report of more than 150 pages(downloadable from this link), which abounds in all the details of the radical transformation that nature, quality and productivity at work are undergoing.
The study also has the mission of trying to bring together two facets that, far from being contradictory, should be two sides of the same coin. On the one hand, harnessing digitalization to foster economic growth and employment; on the other, ensuring decent working conditions, social protection and equal opportunities. According to the experts, there are "trends" that are interconnected: digitalization, globalization, increasing diversity of work patterns, and an aging workforce. And they are trends with "implications" that must be studied and, as the case may be, overcome and/or corrected: rising inequality, changes in business models, labor displacement, skills depreciation, and widening skills gaps.
From the study of all these challenges, a series of specific recommendations with innovative policies emerge, which the authors have classified into three main categories: skilled labor, new labor relations, and the emergence of a new social contract.
In addition, in the executive summary of the document we can find the following nine key points, presented as measures to be adopted:
1) Generate an "account" derived from personal learning of digital skills, which belongs to the worker and must be transferable from one job to another. Such a personal account raises details that need to be addressed such as contributions, number of hours per year, eligible expenses, retirement and retirement processes, as well as tax and pension plans.
2) Expand career guidance and create innovative learning environments to enable better career choices as well as active search for relevant training for all Europeans. Career guidance could be supported by establishing quality training standards and "digital literacy" for career counselors.
3) Support labor market intermediaries to reduce structural skills gaps, especially for women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), as well as workers at "risk of automation" and low-skilled individuals. These intermediaries (such as public employment services, placement offices or temporary agencies) would invest in on-the-job training, provided they can recover the cost of training from employers who, in turn, will benefit from the trained workers.
4) Work on occupational health and safety risks, such as mental health and stress-related issues resulting from digitization and increased volatility in today's world of work.
5) Equalize the (administrative) treatment of work models to harmonize standard and non-standard ones. The aim here is to provide equal access to government services or lines of credit, regardless of employment status.
6. Revitalize social dialogue especially in a "platform economy", for example by allowing workers to discuss issues in a bottom-up manner in dedicated and moderated online spaces.
7. Ensure neutral social protection against unemployment, illness and other life circumstances. In line with measure 5, it is made explicit that there is a growing number of Europeans with non-standard employment, who should have access to social protection, to smooth fluctuating incomes.
8. Creation of a "digital single window" for employment and tax contributions for self-employed workers working on rapidly changing, multi-employer online platforms.
9. Redistribute the value of digital property. For example, treating data as capital, labor or intellectual property. To the extent that worker and consumer data are used to increase the value of the enterprise, this should be recognized and compensated accordingly.
Nine measures with innovative if not revolutionary notes, which are only the tip of the iceberg of a report with an abundance of data and analysis, and which are the result of almost a year of work by the experts chosen expressly for this task. We remind you that it can be downloaded from the link of the original news item, or by clicking here.
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