On 16 July, Karolien Lenaerts (HIVA – KU LEUVEN) presented the objectives, methods and expected results of UNTANGLED at Horizon Europe – Focus on the Africa Initiative, demonstrating how EU and South African partners can collaborate on Horizon2020 projects in the social sciences. The event was organized by European South African Science and Technology Advancement Programme (ESASTAP), a collaborative initiative to promote, facilitate and coordinate research, development and innovation cooperation between South Africa and the EU.

The UNTANGLED research consortium wants to stay close to policymakers, labour market actors, social partners and other stakeholders to be sure we’re asking the right questions and including in our research all groups that will be affected by changes on the job market, Ursula Holtgrewe of the ZSI said during the first UNTANGLED webinar.

Myrielle Gonschor presented the preliminary results of research on how automation affects employment, showing that contrary to popular fears, robots are not destroying jobs in European economies. She discussed the results at the 34th Annual Conference of the European Society for Population Economics in Barcelona on 19 June, 2021.

Are robots contributing to the rise of unemployment? So far the research findings are mixed: in some in countries robot adoption leads to layoffs, but in others there is no rise in jobless numbers. Four UNTANGLED researchers: are exploring the effects of robotisation on movements on the European job market: how robots affect rates of job loss and of finding new jobs. They are also analysing which groups of workers are particularly affected by robots.