Robotization and the end of work: myth or reality

                                            Robotization and the end of work: myth or reality

  Pau Solanila: The emergence of technology and the advent of the fourth industrial revolution with digitization, robotization and artificial intelligence at the fore, represent a new paradigm in the world of work. Changes that occur at breakneck speed that, together with the effects of economic globalization in recent decades, has come to disintegrate many of the certainties on which the narratives of working life of the last half century have been built. The change is part of the history of the progress of our societies and, as in other changes of the time, they generate problems that challenge us to build new coherence. The main feature and the novelty of the changes we face is its speed. Everything is going fast, very fast, and we do not have the necessary governance mechanisms to design public policies that are capable of responding to the needs of the emerging new world. 

 We cannot respond to new realities with the forms and parameters of the past

 There are many and diverse fronts that must be addressed, but perhaps the fundamental critical factor is that we cannot respond to new realities with the forms and parameters of the past. We need a fresh look. In postmodern societies, new ways of living and working are emerging that must be studied and regulated. Rethinking how to guarantee labor rights and duties in a world in which technology is playing a central role and is transforming nature and ways of life and work. Digitization and robotization are a reality that has come to stay. Machines, with algorithms and artificial intelligence, will make us much more productive, fast and efficient, especially in those routine, repetitive or predictable jobs. Its implementation in many sectors creates the feeling that people will be out of work. A prophecy that does not have to be self-fulfilling if we are able to respond intelligently and build a new social contract for the digital age. 

 It would be pretentious to have answers for all problems or questions. It is evident that technology changes the physiognomy of society and structurally transforms our ways of life. The technological revolution is unstoppable and cannot be an uncritical process. We have to govern it to minimize negative impacts such as new digital divides and intelligently take advantage of the new opportunities it offers. The risk that a part of society may be relegated is evident, generating new social problems.

 To win the battle of the future, new coherence will have to be designed that reconciles the capabilities of digitization and robotization with human skills. The new world of work will require efficient collaboration between humans and machines, opening new opportunities and job niches. As the economist José Martín Moisés Carretero, director of Red2Red, says, “the danger is not in digitization, but in non-digitization”. We are in the middle of a great battle in which the new reality must be fitted with legislation and a labor market designed for the old world. 

We are in a complicated moment in which the old world has not just died and the new world has not just imposed itself, generating confusion 

 We are in a difficult moment in which the old world has not just died and the new world has not just imposed itself, generating confusion. Albert Cañigueral has published an interesting book "Work is no longer what it used to be" in which he brilliantly and in detail describes the problems, challenges and opportunities of the world of work. The text describes well that the challenge of employment and the competitiveness of our society will depend on our ability to add intelligence, human and artificial intelligence, to generate progress and new jobs. Something that requires an urgent readjustment of the capacities and abilities of workers and professionals. As has happened throughout history, the forms of work have evolved, and so must training, regulation and protection of rights. Techno-acceleration is transforming the way we live and work, generating new opportunities but also some worrying externalities that must be managed.

One of the characteristics of the digital age and its impact on the world of work is the emergence of non-standard workers, that is, those workers who have non-traditional labor relations such as freelancers or other modalities such as the platform worker. . A reality that has been made visible by the controversy of the rights of riders and the condemnatory sentences to some platforms such as Deliveroo or Glovo for hiring their services as false freelancers. Until now it had not been at the center of the political agenda, but it is a growing reality that affects millions of people in which riders barely represent 7% of the workforce. There are other groups such as office workers, pollsters, or remote workers that according to studies by the Foundation for Progressive European Studies (FEPS) can reach 11% of active workers in Europe. 

 Among the workers in this demand economy, it is estimated that 40% do so through computer screens, it is not usually their main occupation or it is combined with other jobs and income. Digitization and its new ways of generating value and employment are fragmenting the labor market and the nature of labor relations with the precariousness of important professional groups with the emergence of the so-called platform economy. A new reality that changes the narratives and the language of work, confusing the collaborative economy with the platform economy. Professor Luz Rodríguez, defends that we must protect the rights of people who work regardless of their hiring modality. The platform acts as an intermediary, obtaining benefits while the worker loses rights. An unsustainable situation in which the architecture of social protection must be rethought. 

 The problem is not technology, but the business models that have been developed in the absence of regulation and public policies, which are far behind the reality of the market and society 

It is clear that you cannot go back in the digitization process, but it is urgent to regulate it better. We are witnessing a concentration process in which BigTechs capture a lot of value and generate great benefits without contributing to social protection systems. The problem is not technology, but the business models that have been developed in the absence of regulation and public policies, which are far behind the reality of the market and society. 

 “To work is to solve other people's problems” as the Finnish sociologist Esko Kilpi reminds us. Digitization and robotization will not make work disappear, but it will transform it, so we need to think and act fast. The needs of our societies are growing and each industrial revolution has seen the emergence of new forms of work and new jobs. In the new digital society, work is not going to disappear, but it is going to be transformed. In a demand economy in which flexibility and adaptability is key to competitiveness, technology and algorithmic society make it possible to manage productivity or demand peaks much more efficiently, and companies adopt talent search models adapted to that new reality. The traditional work model as we had known it will become obsolete for a good part of the workforce in the coming years. To the extent that we are not able to regulate it, we will be doomed to permanent instability. Flexibility is positive, but it cannot become precarious.

 Digitization, algorithms and robots are going to be part of our life. We have to design new responses to the challenges of the new times. On the other hand, betting decisively on the reskilling of millions of workers to adapt their skills to the new digital society. On the other, by decisively regulating the new forms of unconventional work to allow the development of new ways of living and working, guaranteeing the duties and rights of workers. The future is not predetermined, it must be built, our ability to respond to new challenges will depend on whether we avoid the dystopia of a society without workers.