At this workshop, Cedefop and external experts will present cutting-edge research on the impact of the digital transition on skill mismatches in EU labour markets. Policies to prepare the EU workforce for an artificially intelligent future of work will also be discussed. The workshop will mainly use unique data from Cedefop’s second European skills and jobs survey.

Recent improvements in autonomous digital technologies, such as fast developments in generative artificial intelligence (AI), can markedly affect skill demand in workplaces and foster skill mismatches. Technological change can substitute human capital, resulting in automation and job loss, but it can also contribute to mainly high-skilled work, augmenting labour and improving job quality.

Policy debate has recently been calling for a ‘human-centred’ technological change; yet further research is needed on how new digital technologies may have negative or positive labour market outcomes for workers, and on how they may interact with their job tasks, upskilling needs and overall job quality. Greater focus should also be placed on the relationship between digitalisation and worker upskilling/reskilling needs, and on how these may be governed by different forms of work organisation. Deeper understanding of the interaction between technology adoption in workplaces, (algorithmic) management practices and investment in workers’ continuing skill development may assist in the design of a human-capital-friendly regulatory framework.

This Cedefop workshop will focus on investigating underlying factors of different forms of joined agency between humans and technology, and how these may differ across various workplace environments with diverse human resource management practices. Understanding the conditions under which different digital technologies may have positive or negative implications for workers’ upskilling and skills matching outcomes is a key aim of the workshop. To achieve it, experts will present new evidence, mainly but not exclusively based on data from Cedefop’s second European skills and jobs survey (ESJS2) microdata.

The workshop will be organised around the following themes:

The keynote lecture will be given by Professor Chris Warhurst, Director of Institute for Employment Research, University of Warwick.

Participation in the event will be by invitation only to a limited number of interested individuals and to authors of accepted papers from the following call for submissions.

If you are interested to submit a research paper for the workshop, please fill in the following EUSurvey link.

Deadline for submission: 31 July 2024

A notification of accepted papers to Cedefop’s workshop will be sent by: 16 September 2024

Both papers that use Cedefop’s ESJS2 microdata and papers that use other relevant data sets are welcome to be submitted to the workshop.

Submitted papers should have a length of about 15-30 pages (including bibliography and annexes). They should be structured around the following sections: Introduction, Literature Review, Data, Empirical Methodology, Policy recommendations/Conclusions, Bibliography, Annexes.

Submitted papers may be considered for publication, if authors wish and grant approval, in a special issue of Cedefop’s working paper series (light peer-review), and/or a special issue of the Journal of Education and Work (regular peer-review).  These special issues are expected to be published in the second half of 2025.

How do (new) digital technologies interact with human capital and what factors determine if there is complementarity or substitutability of technology for skills?

How do (new) digital technologies increase or  reduce workers’ skilling needs?

How is the effect of digitalisation on the labour market mediated by different job-skill requirements and alternative forms of work organisation?

What types of skill mismatches are associated with the adoption of new digital technologies in workplaces?

How does the adoption of digital technologies in firms interact with their human resource management and skill utilisation strategies?

What drivers and policies may influence workers’ participation in education and training activities to cope with new digital technologies?