Employment in the New Technological Environment

The explosive growth of technology and the globalization of the economy confront us with complex phenomena that fundamentally transform the structures and functioning of the world of work. New technologies alter our relationship with time and space, diminishing the significance of the workplace, as it is now possible in many cases to work from home or anywhere else.

Many scientists, such as Jeremy Rifkin in his famous book, speak of the end of work, heralding a new historical period where workers will no longer need to engage in exhausting or repetitive tasks. Others predict widespread unemployment, poverty, and social unrest. However, there is one point on which everyone agrees: a new era has already begun, where machines are increasingly replacing workers in the production and distribution of goods, as well as in the provision of services. The organization of work is changing through the use of new technologies, the strengthening of the service sector, the continuous demand for new products, specialized knowledge, capital mobility, and the opening of new markets.

However, in the past, when technology eliminated jobs in one sector, new sectors typically developed to absorb the surplus workforce. Today, all three main sectors of the economy—agriculture, industry, services—are subject to technological changes that push millions into unemployment. The only new sector that has emerged is Information Technology, which employs a small elite of entrepreneurs, scientists, technicians, computer programmers, professional trainers, and consultants. Despite the rapid growth of this sector, it is not expected to absorb more than a small fraction of the millions of people who will be displaced in the coming decades by the revolutionary changes brought about by science and technology in the global economy.

What would the end of work really mean? The idea of a society that is not based on work is so foreign to our understanding of social organization that addressing such a possibility would require us to radically revise the social contract that is currently in place.

However, the end of work—that is, a world without workers—does not seem like a prospect, at least in the visible future, based on the data we have today. In Europe and Greece, data show an increase in job positions over the last 25 to 30 years, although the rates are not sufficiently satisfying. During this period, the active population of the EU increased by 28 million, a figure significantly higher than the increase in employment (8 million). However, the era of population growth is coming to an end, and it is projected that after 2010, the workforce will begin to decline. At that point, the EU may be forced to reconsider its current restrictive immigration policy. Some European countries have already reached this point (Italy, followed by Spain and Germany).

The low rates of employment growth in Europe in the past were mainly due to the following two reasons:

1. 1. The inability to address macroeconomic crises (1975, 1981-83, 1992-94). Due to low growth rates, the creation of new jobs could not keep up with the increase in the active population.

2. Στην αδυναμία εκσυγχρονισμού της αγοράς εργασίας (χαμηλή κινητικότητα του εργατικού δυναμικού, ελλείμματα δεξιοτήτων, ανεπαρκής ενδοεπιχειρησιακή κατάρτιση – οι αμερικανικές εταιρείες παρέχουν κατάρτιση για το 34% του προσωπικού τους σε σύγκριση με το 16% των ευρωπαϊκών – έλλειψη ενημέρωσης και διαφάνειας, νομικά και διοικητικά προβλήματα, πολιτισμικοί και γλωσσικοί φραγμοί, ασυμβατότητα των ασφαλιστικών συστημάτων κλπ)

In response to these two major problems, we now have two very strong and reliable answers: First, the Economic and Monetary Union and the common currency, which create conditions for stability and more investments. Second, the new employment strategy, as outlined in Lisbon and reaffirmed by all subsequent European Councils. The objective of this strategy is to make the EU the most competitive and dynamic economy in the world, based on knowledge and innovation, capable of promoting sustainable growth, with more and better jobs and social cohesion. The simultaneous promotion of economic reform, employment, and social cohesion is expected to lead to conditions of full employment by 2010, according to the optimistic plans of Lisbon, which were further reinforced by the European Council in Stockholm on March 23 and 24, 2001. There, among other things, an intermediate goal was set for the entire Union to reach an employment rate of 67% by January 2005, up from the current 62%, and 57% for women, up from the current 51%.

Today, the EU is faced with the following major challenges:

1. 1. To reduce the competitiveness, knowledge, and access gap in the information society that exists between the EU and the USA.

• 2. To prevent the creation of a two-speed Europe, with member states of varying levels of competitiveness that would undermine social cohesion.

• 3. To prevent the creation of two labor markets and two societies within each country, where certain groups will be excluded from the labor market and the benefits of development.

• 4. To provide a dynamic response to the constantly changing labor markets and structural changes, through the assurance of lifelong learning and the continuous renewal of knowledge and skills of the workforce.

How does the EU respond to these challenges?

Investments in human capital are at the top of the priorities of the “Lisbon Agenda” for a successful transition to a knowledge economy. This is clearly reflected in the 2001 guidelines for Employment. Member states are called upon to promote comprehensive strategies for lifelong professional education and training, paying particular attention to the involvement of social partners, in order to:

• To combat the illiteracy of young people and the elderly, to reduce the number of school dropouts, and to halve the number of young people aged 18 to 24 with only secondary education by 2010.

• To increase the number of adults aged 25 to 64 who participate in education and training programs.

• All schools should have access to the internet and multimedia by the end of 2001, and all teachers should be trained in the use of new technologies by the end of 2002.

A series of other measures, such as the programs funded by the ESF, as well as the Leonardo and Socrates programs, aim at the lifelong education of the EU workforce. Additionally, an action program is promoted to encourage the mobility of students and researchers, as well as a legal framework in the area of social security systems. EU member states, just as they agreed on the EMU by meeting certain criteria and goals, have similarly agreed on a common strategy for employment and social cohesion.

Greece, with the least developed internet market, has set very ambitious goals for the period 2000-2006. The Greek operational program for the “Information Society” is unique in Europe in terms of the extent of its funding (€2.8 billion) and its coverage of all sectors of the economy. It seems that the transition to a knowledge economy and investments in human capital are essential conditions for creating employment and ensuring the sustainability of the European model of social protection.

I would like to conclude with the perspective of Charles Leadbeater, as expressed in his very interesting book “Living on Thin Air.” “Knowledge about communication systems and computers, genes and our brains, the forces of nature, and the origin of the universe overwhelms us. However, the emerging new economy, born from this knowledge, seems empty, soulless, lacking values that inspire. We have an abundance of pragmatism, realism, and cynicism today. However, we need a more attractive, utopian vision for the society we want. Not the utopia of technology, as painted by the advocates of the brave new world… The new economy needs a vision that is primarily social, cultural, and political, not scientific and technological.”