Future of Work: Examining and Embracing Evolution

Standing at the gateway of second wave of globalisation, technological progress and

demographic change, a shift is seen in employment trends indicating profound impact on
businesses, job and labour markets. Organisations, being constantly under a compulsion to
innovate and transform due to diffusing boundaries between various sectors, converging
industries and shortening product lifecycles, are moving towards becoming incubator of
innovation with unparalleled scale of opportunities and an equal measure of challenges. As
automation, IoT, neuromorphic computing and data-driven business are unlocking new
sources of growth, the traditional role of humans as tools in repetitive mechanical tasks is
likely to be replaced with bots and artificial intelligence, as is also reflected in the recent
trends where self-employment, part-time and temporary work are on the rise globally, as
reported by OECD Employment Outlook, 2019. The risk of automation is real but varied
across countries. Out of all jobs, 14% could be automated with 32% likely to change
significantly. The rapidly changing scape of work and fast-paced evolution of technology is
going to require a whole new skill set. While technological progress may render some
skillsets obsolete, it will also create new jobs with highly specialised skills. Training and
preparing the present workforce in skills of future is a challenge as many adults do not have
the right prerequisites for emerging jobs. Six out of ten adults lack basic ICT skills. Thus, the
share of low-skilled jobs has been increasing in the backdrop of emerging gig careers while
simultaneously the share of highly skilled jobs has also increased by 25% over the last two
decades. A shift is also seen from manufacturing to services sector as within the period of
1995 to 2015, employment in the manufacturing sector has gone down by 20% while that in
the services sector has increased by nearly 27%.
A holistic inquiry into these trends is of interest, particularly from an IR perspective, as such
non-standard workers are 50% less likely to be unionised than those in standard employment,
and further these workers are 40-50% lesser likely to get income support when out of work. It
is crucial that policies help workers and society at large to manage the transition with the
least possible disruption, while maximising the potential benefits.