The Future of Work

The nature of how and where people work is changing. Technological transformation, demographic change, and natural crises are prompting workers and employers to experiment with new ways of organizing work and working lives. Some are embracing remote work, while others turn to gig work mediated by digital labour platforms. Some employers are creating global virtual teams, while others experiment with algorithmic hiring and management practices. Many occupations have proven more resilient towards AI than some predicted, while other livelihoods have come under imminent threat of technological unemployment.

These changes raise major questions around societal consequences and inequality. Whose jobs will be enhanced by technology and whose will be lost? How does technological change at the workplace impact wellbeing? What implications does remote work have for the work-family interface? Does it present opportunities for regional and global development? How are people from different genders, ethnic groups, generations, and social classes affected? What policies are being proposed to shape work futures, and what are their effects?

Potential topics of this multidisciplinary collection include but are not limited to:

• Digital labour platforms, platform labour, gig work
• Precarious work, self-employment, freelancing
• Unemployment, underemployment
• Social inequality, social mobility
• Disability and work
• Artificial intelligence
• Algorithmic management
• People analytics
• Algorithmic bias, fairness, and accountability
• Remote working, working from home
• Global supply chains
• Care work
• Unpaid work
• Work and gender
• Migration and work
• Industrial relations
• New forms of collective action
• Transnational labour
• Work and young people
• Skills and skill validation
• Market design
• Methodological advances