We use cookies on this website, including web analysis cookies. By using this site, you agree that we may store and access cookies on your device. You have the right to opt out of web analysis at any time. Find out more about our cookie policy and how to opt out of web analysis.
  • For media
    • Find a topic spokesperson
    • Press Releases
  • for contributors
  • about
  • contact
  • iza
  • subscribe to newsletter
  • Login

    forgot your password?

  • register
Key topics
Jetzt auf Deutsch - Read in German
Trade unions, collective bargaining, and the labor market
What role does happiness play in labor market policy?
Health and well-being
What is the gender divide?
View all
Articles
Program evaluation
Occupational and classroom training
Wage subsidies and in-work benefits
Counseling, sanctioning, and monitoring
Micro-credits and start-up subsidies
Child-care support, early childhood education, and schooling
Behavioral and personnel economics
Pay and incentives
Organization and hierarchies
Human resource management practices
Migration and ethnicity
Labor mobility
Performance of migrants
Implications of migration
Migration policy
Labor markets and institutions
Wage setting
Insurance policies
Redistribution policies
Labor market regulation
Entrepreneurship
Transition and emerging economies
Labor supply and demand
Gender issues
Demographic change and migration
Institutions, policies, and labor market outcomes
Development
Active labor market programs
Microfinance and financial regulations
Technological change
Social insurance
Skills and training programs
Environment
Education and human capital
Economic returns to education
Social returns to education
Schooling and higher education
Vocational education, training skills, and lifelong learning
Demography, family, and gender
Demography
Family
Gender
Health
Data and methods
Data
Methods
Country labor markets
View all articles
Authors
News
Events
Commentary
Opinions
Videos
advanced search
  • Login

    forgot your password?

  • register

    areas of interest
    Clear all Select all

    Selecting your areas of interest helps us to better understand our audience.

advanced search
Key topics
Jetzt auf Deutsch - Read in German
Trade unions, collective bargaining, and the labor market
What role does happiness play in labor market policy?
Health and well-being
What is the gender divide?
View all
Articles
Program evaluation
Occupational and classroom training
Wage subsidies and in-work benefits
Counseling, sanctioning, and monitoring
Micro-credits and start-up subsidies
Child-care support, early childhood education, and schooling
Behavioral and personnel economics
Pay and incentives
Organization and hierarchies
Human resource management practices
Migration and ethnicity
Labor mobility
Performance of migrants
Implications of migration
Migration policy
Labor markets and institutions
Wage setting
Insurance policies
Redistribution policies
Labor market regulation
Entrepreneurship
Transition and emerging economies
Labor supply and demand
Gender issues
Demographic change and migration
Institutions, policies, and labor market outcomes
Development
Active labor market programs
Microfinance and financial regulations
Technological change
Social insurance
Skills and training programs
Environment
Education and human capital
Economic returns to education
Social returns to education
Schooling and higher education
Vocational education, training skills, and lifelong learning
Demography, family, and gender
Demography
Family
Gender
Health
Data and methods
Data
Methods
Country labor markets
View all articles
Authors
News
Events
Commentary
Opinions
Videos
login register
advanced search
  • For media
    • Find a topic spokesperson
    • Press Releases
  • for contributors
  • about
  • contact
  • iza
  • subscribe to newsletter
Key topics
Jetzt auf Deutsch - Read in German
Trade unions, collective bargaining, and the labor market
What role does happiness play in labor market policy?
Health and well-being
What is the gender divide?
View all
Articles
Program evaluation
Occupational and classroom training
Wage subsidies and in-work benefits
Counseling, sanctioning, and monitoring
Micro-credits and start-up subsidies
Child-care support, early childhood education, and schooling
Behavioral and personnel economics
Pay and incentives
Organization and hierarchies
Human resource management practices
Migration and ethnicity
Labor mobility
Performance of migrants
Implications of migration
Migration policy
Labor markets and institutions
Wage setting
Insurance policies
Redistribution policies
Labor market regulation
Entrepreneurship
Transition and emerging economies
Labor supply and demand
Gender issues
Demographic change and migration
Institutions, policies, and labor market outcomes
Development
Active labor market programs
Microfinance and financial regulations
Technological change
Social insurance
Skills and training programs
Environment
Education and human capital
Economic returns to education
Social returns to education
Schooling and higher education
Vocational education, training skills, and lifelong learning
Demography, family, and gender
Demography
Family
Gender
Health
Data and methods
Data
Methods
Country labor markets
View all articles
Authors
News
Events
Commentary
Opinions
Videos
  • Home
  • News
  • January 2016 Newsletter
View this email in your browser
Bloomsbury
IZA World of Labor Bulletin
January 2016
 
Spotlight on: The Fourth Industrial Revolution
Robot

The World Economic Forum (WEF) held its annual meeting in Davos earlier this month. One of the focuses for discussion—and topics covered in its Future of Jobs report—was the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” This “revolution” is a designation for the fast-developing technologies that are catalyzing job automation, creating uncertainty over the future of many job types for workers. Many people fear the effects of robots and machines with artificial intelligence on jobs. In Davos the world’s policymakers and academic elite discussed how five million jobs—including ones thought to be previously “safe” such as doctors and lawyers—could be filled by robots by 2020, with women likely to be most affected.

Our authors Richard Freeman and Marco Vivarelli have written articles on advanced technologies and the effect they will have on the labor market. Freeman, in Who owns the robots rules the world, advises that employees must be empowered to own part of the technology that will replace them, therefore creating an income for a future when their jobs may no longer exist. If this does not happen, then the top stratum of humanity who own the robots will continue to get wealthier, whilst the redundant workers may become “serfs working on behalf of the robots’ overlords.”

Vivarelli has a more positive outlook. He explains that many workers of the future will undertake jobs that we cannot even comprehend yet. In his article Innovation and employment, he suggests that although technological unemployment is a reality we have to face, technological innovation can create many jobs in whole new markets and industries. Vivarelli’s advice is “Policies should maximize the job-creation effect of product innovation and minimize the direct labor-saving impact of process innovation. R&D investments, especially in high-tech sectors, may not only foster competitiveness, but may also be an effective means of creating jobs.”

Read more about the WEF’s Future of Jobs report.

Top stories
News and views in labor economics
  • Daniel Hamermesh to become the new Editor-in-Chief of IZA World of Labor. Read more...
  • Talks to begin to prevent second doctors’ strike in England. Read more...
  • India to increase maternity leave entitlement. Read more...
  • Smartphone manufacturers are ignoring child labor, says Amnesty. Read more...
Latest articles
Newly published articles from IZA World of Labor
  • Parental employment and children’s academic achievement by Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch presents the evidence on how maternal employment influences children, which is important both to parents and policy makers.
  • Employee incentives: Bonuses or penalties? In his article, Daniele Nosenzo, writes that penalty contracts lead to higher productivity in workers than bonus incentives based on performance, but there are consequences.
  • Gary Charness has written an article on how delegating the choice of wage setting to workers can lead to better outcomes for all involved parties. Should firms allow workers to choose their own wage? 
  • Do minimum wages stimulate productivity and growth? by Joseph Sabia suggests that minimum wage increases fail to stimulate growth and can have a negative impact on vulnerable workers during recessions. 

Visit the IZA World of Labor site for more concise, informative, evidence-based articles across the spectrum of labor economics.

Publishing soon - Information for journalists
Please contact Sarah.Williams@Bloomsbury.com for more information, if you would like exclusive access to an article, or for an exclusive author interview.
  • The labor market consequences of impatience: There is strong evidence that some people have trouble following through on investments that best serve their long-run interests. These findings open the door to policies encouraging or requiring better behaviors, which would allow people to commit to the choices they truly want to make.
  • Female education and its impact on fertility: The negative correlation between women's education and fertility is one of the strongest patterns observed across regions and time. But, its interpretation is unclear and the relationship is complex.
  • Can market mechanisms solve the refugee crisis?: The unequal distribution of refugees across countries could unravel the international refugee protection system or, in the case of the EU, hinder a common policy response to refugee crises. A way to distribute refugees efficiently, while respecting their rights, is to combine two market mechanisms.
  • Legalizing undocumented immigrants: While legalization benefits most undocumented immigrants, deciding how to regularize them is challenging and policies range from temporary visa programs to naturalization.
Twitter Facebook Google LinkedIn Tumblr
© Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP
No longer want to receive emails from this list? Unsubscribe
  • news archives
    • 2018
      • April 2018
      • March 2018
      • February 2018
      • January 2018
    • 2017
      • December 2017
      • November 2017
      • October 2017
      • September 2017
      • August 2017
      • July 2017
      • June 2017
      • May 2017
      • April 2017
      • March 2017
      • February 2017
      • January 2017
    • 2016
      • December 2016
      • November 2016
      • October 2016
      • September 2016
      • August 2016
      • July 2016
      • June 2016
      • May 2016
      • April 2016
      • March 2016
      • February 2016
      • January 2016
    • 2015
      • December 2015
      • November 2015
      • October 2015
      • September 2015
      • August 2015
      • July 2015
      • June 2015
      • May 2015
      • April 2015
      • March 2015
      • February 2015
      • January 2015
    • 2014
      • December 2014
      • November 2014
      • October 2014
      • September 2014
      • August 2014
      • July 2014
      • June 2014
      • May 2014
  • newsletters
    • 2018
      • April 2018 Newsletter
      • International Women's Day 2018
      • February 2018 newsletter
      • January 2018 Newsletter
    • 2017
      • December 2017 newsletter
      • November 2017 Newsletter
      • October 2017 Newsletter
      • September 2017 newsletter
      • August 2017 Newsletter
      • June 2017 newsletter
      • May 2017 Newsletter
      • April 2017 newsletter
      • March 2017 Newsletter
      • February 2017 Newsletter
      • January 2017 Newsletter
    • 2016
      • December 2016 Newsletter
      • November 2016 Newsletter
      • October 2016 Newsletter
      • September 2016 Newsletter
      • August 2016 Newsletter
      • July 2016 Newsletter
      • June 2016 Newsletter
      • May 2016 Newsletter
      • April 2016 Newsletter
      • March 2016 Newsletter
      • February 2016 Newsletter
      • January 2016 Newsletter
    • 2015
      • December 2015 Newsletter
      • November 2015 Newsletter
      • October 2015 Newsletter
      • September 2015 Newsletter
      • August 2015 Newsletter
      • July 2015 Newsletter
      • June 2015 Newsletter
      • May 2015 Newsletter
      • April 2015 Newsletter
      • March 2015 Newsletter
      • February 2015 Newsletter
      • January 2015 Newsletter
    • 2014
      • December 2014 Newsletter
      • November 2014 Newsletter
      • October 2014 Newsletter
      • September 2014 Newsletter
      • August 2014 Newsletter
      • July 2014 Newsletter
      • June 2014 Newsletter
  • Latest Articles
    • Aggregate labor productivity

      Michael C. Burda
    • The labor market in New Zealand, 2000–2017

      David C. Maré
    • Working in family firms

      Thomas Breda
    • The labor market in India since the 1990s

      Indraneel Dasgupta, Saibal Kar
    • One-company towns: Scale and consequences

      Simon Commander
    • The labor market in Belgium, 2000–2016

      Vincent Bodart, Muriel Dejemeppe, Bruno Van der Linden
    • The complex effects of retirement on health

      Andreas Kuhn
    • The labor market in Poland, 2000−2016

      Piotr Lewandowski, Iga Magda
    • Trade and labor markets: Lessons from China’s rise

      David H. Autor
    • Managerial quality and worker productivity in developing countries

      Achyuta Adhvaryu
    More Less
stay up to date

Register for our newsletter to receive regular updates on what we’re doing, latest news and forthcoming articles.

subscribe to newsletter
follow iza world of labor
  • on twitter
  • on linkedin
  • on facebook
  • on google+
 
 

Get the latest news and articles delivered to your inbox

Subscribe to the IZA World of Labor Newsletter
subscribe to newsletter
Follow IZA WORLD OF LABOR
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Privacy and cookie policy
  • Terms and conditions

Copyright © IZA 2018 Impressum.
All Rights Reserved. ISSN: 2054-9571