With the rise of the gig economy and the spectre of AI and other autonomous technologies around the corner, there has been growing concern not only on there being enough jobs to go around, but of the quality of those jobs.
Concern around the gig economy and so called ‘zero hour contracts’ has been particularly intense in Europe, with countries like France and Germany banning them, and the UK setting up a commission to examine both what is ‘good’ work, and how it can be promoted.
Being the federation for Trade Unions in the UK, it’s perhaps not surprising that this is an issue that concerns the TUC, and they have published their own paper into the future of work to coincide with their congress.
The search for good jobs
The report nicely encapsulates some of the confusion surrounding discussions on a future that has not really played out yet. Technologies such as robotics and AI are simultaneously a long way off doing anything meaningful, yet also a threat to jobs as we know them. For instance, the authors state that sales of robots are growing swiftly in the UK, yet they remain significantly behind that of other industrialized nations.
Broadly speaking however, the authors accept that technology will make society better, and pleasingly they avoid the trap of thinking that AI-based technologies will make us all redundant. Instead, the crux of the paper revolves around ensuring that the spoils of the richer society technology creates are distributed equitably throughout the workforce rather than congealing at the top.
“The OECD calculates that labour’s share of income is in decline across the industrial world,” they say. “Between 1990 and 2009, the labour share fell in 26 of 30 advanced economies.”
They believe that much of this decline is due to the ability of technology to replace workers, especially in routine tasks. This has manifested itself in growing wage inequality across the UK, with wealthier people seemingly able to capture a larger share of the economic growth. These gaps have been largest in former industrial communities, where large employers have fallen into decline.
Supporting the transition
It’s at this point that our opinions diverge somewhat. As you might expect from a trade union authored paper, there is an understandable focus on pay and conditions for workers, the TUC argue that pay will be increased primarily through traditional union-related activities. They advocate greater collective bargaining and a revival in trade union membership.
“But an increasing body of evidence shows that strong collective bargaining is the best way to both deliver a fair share of growth to workers, and ensure that there’s equality between them,” they say. “Within the UK, there’s clear evidence that the decline in trade union membership has coincided with a rise in inequality.”
The report loses its way a little here, as it drifts off into discussions around work-life balance and the ability for technology to encroach into personal time. Whilst this is undoubtedly an issue, and I’ve written before about the challenges this presents, it doesn’t appear to be an issue that requires a systemic solution, and certainly not one that involves the banning of gig work, as the report suggests, or indeed the systematic introduction of a four-day working week.
It makes practically no mention at all about the pressing need for greater learning and development opportunities, especially in those post-industrial communities that have failed to keep pace with changes in the economy.
There is also a growing appreciation of the need to re-engineer jobs to better take account of the new technologies entering the workforce, and the training requirements this places on employers and employees alike.
It sadly brings to mind the famous Maslow saying, that if the only tool you have is a hammer, you treat everything as if it were a nail. The report represents a missed opportunity to push for a learning revolution to go alongside the 4th industrial revolution.
