"Bright future for world of work" - EBRD's Transition Report

Challenges but also benefits ahead, says optimistic new EBRD Transition Report.

A revolution in global work patterns confronts the world with complex challenges but the threat of upheaval can be turned into an opportunity with the right policy responses, according to a new study from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The EBRD's Transition Report 2018-19: Work in Transition argues that despite the risks from demographic change, fast-moving technological development and migration, the transformations now underway will be for the good.

"While the transformation of work will pose major challenges for policymakers, our overall message is optimistic," says EBRD Chief Economist Sergei Guriev in his foreword to the Transition Report. "Changing work patterns", Professor Guriev adds, "can all result in tangible aggregate benefits. Moreover, a fair distribution of those benefits is eminently feasible. The future of work will itself entail plenty of work, but that future can and should be a bright one."

The new study analyses the upheaval in global work patterns and their effect on the countries where the EBRD works to promote efficient and sustainable market economies.

Major demographic shifts are affecting the supply of labour, leaving many countries in the EBRD regions dealing either with ageing or very young populations. Technological advances doing away with medium-skilled work are polarising the job market into high- and low-skilled sectors, a challenge in regions that have experienced deindustrialisation and that face relatively high levels of emigration by skilled workers. More broadly, rising levels of migration accompany geographical shifts in the location of jobs and workers, both internationally and inside individual countries.

In its assessment of how the world of...

Continue reading on: