new technologies will boost employment yet change its nature too.

The growth in automation is set to have a positive net effect on the number of jobs available, shows the latest edition of Randstad’s Flexibility@Work report. The introduction of new technology will increase total employment numbers by around 0.5% annually, allaying popular fears that automation will replace workers.

However, nearly half of the types of jobs available will change, with traditional employment structures being supplemented by more flexible and adaptable models, with more diversity in compensation and working time arrangements as well as in types of contracts. This will help people who cannot fit into traditional working patterns to enter the workforce and provide them with decent and sustainable work.

“As the Flexibility@Work 2019 paper shows, there will be no shortage of jobs in the future of work, but work will change fundamentally,” said Randstad CEO, Jacques van den Broek. “While embracing the future, we also need to brace for change. Shaping a future of work that is more inclusive and rewarding for all calls for a systemic transition agenda promoting social innovation through an approach that includes all stakeholders, aiming interventions at those who need them most.”

Three new work types are set to emerge: frontier work, last-mile work and wealth work. Frontier work concerns jobs in new technological fields, last-mile work concerns jobs that cannot yet be automated and wealth work concerns jobs created thanks to increased productivity. Many of these new roles will require new types of skills and training, with soft social skills becoming increasingly important. A comprehensive program of social innovation with a holistic approach on reforming the world of work, education and social security is needed to make people resilient for the future of work.

Jacques van den Broek will be discussing these trends and how employers, educators and society can manage them at the OECD Forum in Paris, 20th - 21st May. He will also be a member on the Economic Outlook panel on 21st May 2019, which will be moderated by the OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría. The other panel members are José María Álvarez-Pallete, CEO of Telefónica, Nadia Calviño, Minister of Economy and Business from Spain, Paulo Guedes, Minister of the Economy of Brazil and Richard Trumka, President of the American Federation of Industrial Organizations.