The ILO (International Labour Organization) has decided to tackle the subject for some time now.
These reflections, of course, encompass questions about the future of work.
The world of work has already undergone profound and brutal changes when technology or ideas have disrupted social habits.
Antiquity and the Middle Ages experienced spectacular transformations.
The 13th century, for example, saw a first industrial revolution with the improvement of pulleys for the construction of cathedrals, but also with the development of the camshaft for the expansion of water mills.
In the 19th century, we speak of an industrial revolution because the considerable upheavals that shook the Western world permanently altered social, economic, and political structures up to this day.
For several years now, we have been witnessing a new period of change. The relationship with work is evolving. It strongly influences our lifestyles.
The profound transformations currently agitating the world of work are motivated by three main reasons: digitalization, automation, and the energy transition. It is difficult to know the extent of each one’s influence, but it is certain that these three factors interact to accelerate the transformation of work.
The ILO’s studies predict that by 2030, globally, 50% of jobs will not have been invented. This indicates the significant disruption that is preparing within work organizations in an increasingly open world.
The new forms of work, the jobs to be invented, the imperatives of productivity, omnipresent competition, will force employers to rethink their recruitment policies, their management of jobs and skills. The need for flexibility and agility may lead social partners to redefine workers’ statuses.
In France, for example, the permanent contract rate stands at 87%, compared to 23% for the world average.
There is also a need to develop new solutions in terms of social protection and retirement funding. These are crucial issues that will be one of the major projects of the next five-year term.
The ILO estimates that more than 600 million new jobs will need to be created by 2030, simply to keep pace with the growth of the working-age population. This need represents 40 million job creations per year worldwide.
The stakes are considerable, especially since 780 million men and women on our planet earn less than the global poverty line of 2 dollars a day.
Decent work represents the aspirations of human beings for social peace, access to productive and properly paid work, the security of working conditions, and social protection for families.
Decent work is a guarantee of social peace and prosperity; it offers better prospects for personal development and social inclusion.
Finally, work is the means for individuals to freely express their desires, to organize themselves, and to participate in decisions that affect their lives, equality of opportunity, and respect for gender equality.
As we can see, the future of work is quite simply the future of our lives.
