(Brussels) The world of work has changed and will continue to change as a result of the current digital and ecological transformations. It is therefore crucial that the European Union develops a “clear European vision” to ensure that no citizen is excluded from or harmed by such transformations. This is the purpose of the paper “Shaping the future of work” prepared by the Social Affairs Commission of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE). The text looks to 2019, the year of the European elections, and to the centenary of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The document will be presented in Brussels today – at an international conference promoted by COMECE at the EESC – by the president of the COMECE Social Affairs Commission, Antoine Hérouard. The text is a reflection on work, understood as a source of income and as “an integral part of human identity”: indeed, work “defines our role as human beings in society”, promotes our personal development, and “provides the conditions for a stable and fruitful life of the present and future generations”. There are, however, some “risks” today: job polarisation, since “digitalisation has created many work opportunities for high-skilled people while putting the routine-task jobs of the middle class at risk”; flexibility which threatens the right to work; and the blurring of boundaries between professional and private life as a result of digitisation. Hence there is a need to “shape the current trends towards a decent, sustainable and participative world of work for all” – a vision which is built on an economy that serves integral human development.