Month: September 2022

The workshop, organised by UNTANGLED partner ZSI in Vienna, aims to explore how we can improve research on three megatrends – globalisation, digitalisation and demographic changes – and their impact on various aspects of labour. Because one of the purposes of UNTANGLED is to develop scenarios and a framework to orient policies to benefit society, we put great emphasis on collaboration with stakeholders to ensure a variety of perspectives in the research process. The ambition of our workshop is also to reflect on and contribute to the flow of insights and ideas between policy, practice and research.

Researchers will talk about the methods they use and their results, reflecting on the explanatory power, limitations and policy implications of their research. Policymakers and practitioners will share their experience with commissioning and using research for their work.

We will talk about the implications of technological transformation, globalisation and demographic change for:

• Heterogenous impacts of mega trends on labour market outcomes
• Work related migration and skills
• Education and future skill needs, productivity growth
• (Regional/Rural-urban) convergence/divergence, EU economic governance, trade
• Technology and human capital
• (Wage/regional) inequality, social policy
• Covering the combined impact of two or more of the driving forces – technological transformation, globalisation, and demographic change – is considered an added value.

All the detailed information is in the Call for Papers below. Any queries can be emailed to Ilse Tobback at: ilse.tobback@kuleuven.be

During the session titled “Structural change and automation”, Lewandowski will speak about the paper The Drivers of Income Inequality in Europe – Automation, co-authored with UNTANGLED researchers Karina Doorley (ESRI), Jan Gromadzki (IBS), Dora Tuda (ESRI) and Philippe Van Kerm (LISER).

Albinowski will present The impact of technology on labour market outcomes of demographic groups in Europe, written together with Lewandowski, at the poster session “Labour market outcomes and technology in Europe”.

Conference details here

Maciej Albinowski and Piotr Lewandowski of Poland’s Institute for Structural Research (IBS) analysed demographic and industry-level data in 14 European economies between 2010 and 2018, finding that robotisation and ICT have altered the demographic structure of employment in Europe. Among those benefitting from the digital revolution that’s reshaping European economies, young and middle-aged women(20-49 years old) are the biggest winners, the study found.

“We found that technology adoption has significant effects on the employment shares of various demographic groups, while the effects on wages are statistically insignificant,” said Maciej Albinowski. “Investment in ICT played a visibly larger role in explaining changes in the demographic structure of employment in Europe than robot adoption.”

The study’s findings are important for calibrating public policies, including the support for lifelong learning and the design of pension systems, as the digitalisation of European economies accelerates. Thus far little has been known about the impact of technological disruption on various gender and age groups, even as the value of ICT capital per worker in Europe increased by 91% from 2000 to 2019, while robot exposure, measured by the number of industrial robots per 1,000 workers, jumped by 140%.

The two types of technology affected demographic groups differently. ICT investments endangered the jobs of women employees over 60, while robots ended up taking jobs from male workers aged 30-49.

“The negative effects of ICT investments on older women may be explained by lower IT literacy in this group,” Lewandowski said. “Meanwhile, the negative employment effects of robot adoption are concentrated among men aged 20-49 performing routine manual tasks. Fortunately, the overall effects of technology adoption on men aged 20-29 are neutralized by the fact that they manage to find employment in other types of occupations.”

Maciej Albinowski, Piotr Lewandowski (2022). The impact of ICT and robots on labour market outcomes of demographic groups in Europe (Deliverable 3.1). Leuven: UNTANGLED project 1001004776 – H2020.

The paper is available here

More than 20 participants from three continents came together online to discuss labour-market issues during the fourth edition of the UNTANGLED Open Virtual Expert Café on 31 August. Attendees were drawn from academia, research institutes and social partners.

To find out more, please visit our events section.

The date of the next Café will be announced soon. Please check our website and social media for announcements.