
Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe
A long-lasting European research-to-action platform, in collaboration with the Mastercard Impact Fund and Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth
The project Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe was launched on 2 September 2020 at the Bruegel Annual Meetings. It is supported by and developed in collaboration with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The project, envisioned over the next three years, closely analyses the impact of technology on the nature, quantity and quality of work, welfare systems and inclusive growth at large. That includes exploring the role of technology and AI in reshaping society, particularly when subject to extreme stress (e.g. during a pandemic), and considering those who have been most affected by these forces in the short and long term.
Technological development, and in particular, digitalisation, has major implications for labour markets and the nature of work itself. There is a rise in alternative types of work that today’s European welfare states have not yet had the chance to adapt to. The transformation of the way we work is only likely to speed up because of the pandemic. While there is still uncertainty surrounding the long-term economic implications of the pandemic, we know that Europe’s digital future, and its relationship with its workforce in particular, will be wholly impacted, and it will require an inclusive, cross-sector response moving forward. The project brings together academics, policymakers, practitioners, and the private sector to bridge new insights on critical issues with opportunities for practical application.
The Future of Work and Inclusive growth project is divided into four main workstreams
1. Technology and tasks: changing what we do at work
- Effects on job quality and wellbeing at work
- Distributional effects in the labour market
2. Technology and the employment relationship: changing how, when and where we work
- New forms of work organisation (platform and hybrid work)
- Balance of power and discrimination in the labour market
3. Technology and skills: changing what need to know at work
- Reskilling workers in jobs at risk for automation
- Transitioning workers towards future-proof jobs
4. Technology beyond work: digital inclusion and shared prosperity
- Digital divide: technology, poverty and inequality
- Data governance and health
The thematic workstreams are carried out through the following activities and outputs:
- Creation of the Excellence Network – platform for a diverse community of stakeholders (academia, policy representatives, business sector, employers’ organizations, trade unions, innovative small companies) to allow exchange of insights and enhance a stronger collaboration between different social and economic actors.
- Policy papers written by the experts in the Excellence Network and Bruegel’s fellows.
- Case studies to share best practices in private and public initiatives for steering technological change in a human-centred direction and helping workers adapt through reskilling and transitioning.
- Dashboard – an interactive, comprehensive analytical tool that monitors the impact of technological change on labour markets in Europe.
- Events in Brussels and other EU countries to share and discuss the findings of the research with strategic stakeholders across Europe.
- Dissemination of results through social media, data visualizations, podcasts and other Bruegel’s output.
A LEADING PARTNERSHIP
As a leading independent voice in Europe on economic policy response, with a track record of extensive work around the role of digitization, technology, and gig work in the labour force, Bruegel is well positioned to lead this effort. Bruegel has been successfully collaborating with the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth in the past three years conducting studies on inclusive growth (2016), migration (2017) and the effects of digitalisation on European welfare states (2018/19). The Center, committed to support initiatives that focus on long-term economic growth and the reduction of income and information inequality, is the ideal catalyser for this initiative. In addition, Bruegel’s Director Guntram Wolff has been a Fellow of the Mastercard Global Economic Panel since 2013. The economic panel meets 1-2 times per year with the senior MasterCard management to discuss the global economy in an informal way, which led to building a strong relationship between Bruegel and the Center.
Project lead
Laura Nurski
Future of Work, Artificial Intelligence, Job Quality, Labour, Wellbeing
Research fellow
Research Team
Diane Mulcahy
The Gig Economy and the Future of Work, Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Private Equity and Venture Capital
Visiting fellow
Fabian Stephany
Future of Work, Internet Economics, Network Science, Online Gig Economy, Platform Economy
Non-resident fellow
Institutional Oversight
Maria Demertzis
Macroeconomics, Monetary and Financial Stability, Political Economy
Interim Director
Project management

Artificial intelligence and job quality
A timely discussion about the role AI plays in job quality

The impact of artificial intelligence on the nature and quality of jobs
Policymakers should strengthen the role of social partners in the adoption of AI technology to protect workers’ bargaining power.

Policies to support the self-employed in the labour markets of the future
A review of changes in the way we work.

Future of Work and Inclusive Growth Annual Conference
Annual Conference of the Future of Work and Inclusive Growth project

Job quality is about more than working conditions
What is job quality and why does it matter?

Is the workforce ready for the jobs of the future? Data-informed skills and training foresight
For many newly emerging jobs, labour-market mismatches prevail as workers and firms are unable to apply precise occupation taxonomies and training lag

Beating burnout: identifying bad jobs and improving job quality
To improve wellbeing at work, job quality policy should pay more attention to imbalances in job content and the social environment at work.

Better pensions for the European Union’s self-employed
What is the current state of pensions policy in Europe and how are independent workers treated compared with their traditionally employed counterparts

Online labour: Can we all just move to Tahiti?
How is online labour different from remote work?

Make AI boring again
How can AI education improve workers' experience?

Market power and artificial intelligence work on online labour markets
In this working paper, the authors investigate three alternative but complementary indicators of market power on one of the largest online labour mark

Future of work and inclusive growth: Digital dialogues
An end of year series of digital discussions on the Future of Work and Inclusive Growth in Europe.

An inclusive European Union must boost gig workers’ rights
A European initiative strengthening rights for gig workers is welcome. A digitised economy should also be inclusive.

The triple constraint on artificial-intelligence advancement in Europe
Skills, data and financing shortcomings constrain artificial-intelligence innovation in Europe.

What is holding back artificial intelligence adoption in Europe?
To accelerate the roll-out of AI technology across the European Union, policymakers should alleviate constraints to adoption faced by firms, both in t

Technology: a product of unequal power?
The effects of digital technology on work and wages.

Biometric technologies at work: a proposed use-based taxonomy
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A hybrid future of work
Addressing employers’ and employees’ challenges.

Is tech redefining the workplace for women?
Laura Nurski, Sabine Theresia Köszegi and Giuseppe Porcaro explore the relationship between artificial intelligence and job transformation and ask whe

Do robots dream of paying taxes?
The digital transition should be managed – and taxed – alongside other societal transitions, but any tax on companies that replace employees with aut

Remote work, EU labour markets and wage inequality
More remote working in the wake of the pandemic could exacerbate wage inequality, with young workers, women and the low educated potentially losing ou

Are robots taking our jobs?
What will be the impact of automation on the economy? Bruegel's own Giuseppe Porcaro discusses with Aaron Benanav, Laura Nurski, and Alexis Moraitis.

Fair vaccine access is a goal Europe cannot afford to miss – July update
European countries must do more to tackle the vaccine uptake gap. Vaccination data should be published at the maximum granularity level so researchers

Designing a hybrid work organisation
Post-pandemic hybrid work models should be carefully planned, taking into account individual and organisational needs.

Workers can unlock the artificial intelligence revolution
Employers and artificial intelligence developers should ensure new technologies work for workers by making them trustworthy, easy to use and valuable

The skills of the future
What challenges and opportunities does technology bring to the labour market?

Blending the physical and virtual: a hybrid model for the future of work
The pandemic has shown that many workers can efficiently work remotely, with benefits for wellbeing and even productivity. The European Union should d

The work of the future: How are new jobs created and what are the implications for labour markets?
Join us for a presentation of 'New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940 — 2018' by David Autor (MIT and NBER) and the findings on the

The Future of Work – a conversation with Commissioner Schmit
EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit joins Bruegel for a conversation around the future of work.

Algorithmic management is the past, not the future of work
Algorithmic management is the twenty-first century’s scientific management. Job quality measures should be included explicitly in health and safety ri

Self-employment, COVID-19, and the future of work for knowledge workers
The experiences of the self-employed could give a glimpse into the future of work for knowledge workers in a post-pandemic world.

Fair vaccine access is a goal Europe cannot afford to miss
COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the fastest-moving countries show signs of reinforcing inequality. European Union countries can avoid these pitfalls

Protecting workers in the platform economy
How can we protect platform workers while preserving the opportunities and benefits that are generated by the sharing economy?

The scarring effect of COVID-19: youth unemployment in Europe
Even before the pandemic, youth unemployment in the European Union was three times higher than among the over-55s. COVID-19 threatens to undo the last

Job polarisation and the Great Recession
A job polarisation trend has seen relatively more workers in the European Union employed in skilled and unskilled jobs, while mid-skilled jobs have be

Artificial intelligence’s great impact on low and middle-skilled jobs
Artificial intelligence and machine learning will significantly transform low-skilled jobs that have not yet been negatively affected by past technolo