Written byGuy Ryder, Director General of the International Labour Organization
New technology has always been a defining feature of the world of work. Many historic moments of innovation and disruptions to the workplace had much to do with ground-breaking technologies.
Yet the current wave of technological changes under the “digital revolution” is unprecedented in terms of speed, scope and scale. It is diffusing much faster than before, affecting all dimensions of the labour market.
Managing this process for everyone’s benefit is crucial in achieving the SDGs, especially SDG 8 to “Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”.
While digitalization offers rich opportunities for economic transition and industrial upgrading, the impacts of digitalization on workers and firms can be both positive and negative. Positive effects may include productivity growth, new market opportunities, new jobs, greater work‐life balance, and higher pay.
However, these positive effects are often not broadly shared among firms and workers, which can contribute to widening inequality. Some firms are left behind, as are some workers. Our analyses show that women are often more negatively affected as new technology can crowd women out of jobs as productivity and incomes in these jobs rise.
Negative effects of digitalization are associated with income and job insecurity, work intensification, and deterioration of mental well-being. For instance, digital labour platforms provide new sources of jobs and income, but raise serious challenges for workers’ protection, representation and fair treatment. In addition, digitalisation generates large amounts of data on workers that can pose risks for workers’ privacy.
This is why the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work, which was adopted in 2019 after years of analysis and deliberation, proposed a human-centred approach to new technology in the world of work.
While it stressed the critical importance of “harnessing the fullest potential of technological progress and productivity growth, including through social dialogue, to achieve decent work and sustainable development, which ensure dignity, self-fulfilment and a just sharing of the benefits for all”, it specifically called for “policies and measures that ensure appropriate privacy and personal data protection, and respond to challenges and opportunities in the world of work relating to the digital transformation of work, including platform work.”
The roles of such policies are even more important in tackling social and economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Working from home, supported by advanced digital technology, has shown its potential but any positive potential can only be fully realised when supported by effective policies and regulation for worker protection and representation as well as for expanding digital access to all.
The ILO Centenary Declaration also called for all relevant stakeholders to ensure policy coherence in the multilateral system. This means examining and considering all international economic and financial policies and measures in light of the fundamental objective of achieving social justice.
Such coordinated actions within the system will contribute to help both workers and firms to benefit fully from the digital revolution and thus achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all.
