2024-06-05
Development trends in labour market
On Tuesday evening, 28 May, the fourth event in the "Work and Democracy" series took place at O-Werk under the title "Development trends in gainful employment". The speakers focused in particular on current developments in low-skilled work, securing skilled labour and the flexibilisation of gainful employment, as well as the particular challenges they pose for co-determination and social participation. Dr Claudia Niewerth (Managing Director of the Helex Institute/Centre of cooperation RUB/IGM) opened and moderated the evening with a total of around 50 participants (with a balanced online and face-to-face distribution).
The first lecture of the evening was given by Michaela Evans-Borchers (Director of Work & Change at the Institute of Work and Technology at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, Gelsenkirchen) on the developments in personal social service work. This reflects an efficient welfare state, which is necessarily based on democratic relationship work and represents an enabling condition for social participation. She also emphasised the dual nature of the shortage of skilled workers, which can lead to the powerlessness of employees with little primary power, but also gives skilled workers more room for negotiation in some cases. Opportunities for co-determination must be strengthened, especially with regard to this ambivalence.
Dr Peter Ittermann (Coordinator of the Industry and Labour Research Unit at the Social Research Centre Dortmund) continued the evening with a presentation on the topic of "Simple work in transformation". He focussed on the development dynamics of low-skilled work in general, but in particular on the research results of a study in the Dortmund and Hamm regions. In particular, he referred to the significance of low-skilled work in the economy and society, which raises questions about development prospects and poses challenges for interest groups.
Development trends in labour market
On Tuesday evening, 28 May, the fourth event in the "Work and Democracy" series took place at O-Werk under the title "Development trends in gainful employment". The speakers focused in particular on current developments in low-skilled work, securing skilled labour and the flexibilisation of gainful employment, as well as the particular challenges they pose for co-determination and social participation. Dr Claudia Niewerth (Managing Director of the Helex Institute/Centre of cooperation RUB/IGM) opened and moderated the evening with a total of around 50 participants (with a balanced online and face-to-face distribution).
The first lecture of the evening was given by Michaela Evans-Borchers (Director of Work & Change at the Institute of Work and Technology at the Westphalian University of Applied Sciences, Gelsenkirchen) on the developments in personal social service work. This reflects an efficient welfare state, which is necessarily based on democratic relationship work and represents an enabling condition for social participation. She also emphasised the dual nature of the shortage of skilled workers, which can lead to the powerlessness of employees with little primary power, but also gives skilled workers more room for negotiation in some cases. Opportunities for co-determination must be strengthened, especially with regard to this ambivalence.
Dr Peter Ittermann (Coordinator of the Industry and Labour Research Unit at the Social Research Centre Dortmund) continued the evening with a presentation on the topic of "Simple work in transformation". He focussed on the development dynamics of low-skilled work in general, but in particular on the research results of a study in the Dortmund and Hamm regions. In particular, he referred to the significance of low-skilled work in the economy and society, which raises questions about development prospects and poses challenges for interest groups.
Finally, Prof. Dr Maximiliane Wilkesmann (Heisenberg Professorship "Sociology of Work and Organisation" at the Faculty of Social Sciences at TU Dortmund University) spoke about the blurring of work and organisational boundaries in gainful employment, using the example of "workation", which has been driven primarily by and since the pandemic. She also traced the development of the New Work movement from the 1970s to the present day and concluded with the challenges for co-determination, in particular through singularity tendencies.
In the final discussion, approaches to revitalising collective solidarity efforts in increasingly heterogeneous working environments were discussed. This was followed by an appeal to the social partners and political players to develop new strategies to support the workforce.
On our fifth event evening, on Tuesday, 11 June, we will be welcoming colleagues from Duisburg/Essen to the O-Werk: Prof. Dr Thomas Haipeter (Head of the Working Time and Work Organisation Research Department at the Institute for Work and Skills at the University of Duisburg-Essen), Dr Sophie Rosenbohm (Working Time and Work Organisation Department at the IAQ, DUE) and Dr Fabian Hoose (Working Time and Work Organisation Department at the IAQ, DUE) will talk about the challenges of the multi-layered levels of co-determination in the dual transformation of business and work as well as the prospects for sustainable labour policy. Based on various empirical research projects, the lecture will offer insights into the largely unregulated area of digital work in the platform economy, interest representation in changing corporate structures and labour policy conditions for action in the socio-ecological transformation. Registration at: https://www.akademie.rub.de/ninja-forms/156pfbj/
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Last update: Jun 05, 2024
