Digitalisation of the economy and its impact on labour markets —

Christophe Degryse
organisation. Some authors have thus described a ‘second <strong>economy</strong>’ distinct
from <strong>the</strong> ‘traditional’ physical <strong>economy</strong> for <strong>the</strong> production <strong>of</strong> goods <strong>and</strong> services
(Brian Arthur 2011).
For <strong>the</strong> world <strong>of</strong> labour in general, as we shall see in more detail in part two <strong>of</strong>
this study, <strong>the</strong>se developments entail both risks <strong>and</strong> opportunities. To give just
a few examples:
— <strong>the</strong> technician on-<strong>the</strong>-move who is followed by management at every
step by means <strong>of</strong> a connection box, whose every action <strong>and</strong> gesture is
recorded <strong>and</strong> evaluated in real time (journey time, client intervention
time, etc.);
— <strong>the</strong> production line worker with an RFID (Radio Frequency
Identification) chip transmitting in real time his every move to <strong>the</strong>
robots with which he is interacting (<strong>and</strong> to <strong>the</strong> management);
— <strong>the</strong> farmer to whom <strong>the</strong> tractor manufacturer John Deere boastfully
recommends <strong>its</strong> connected tractors that are ‘more accurate than <strong>the</strong> best
drivers’ 5 ;
— or <strong>the</strong> employee who, with a few sensors <strong>and</strong> an app 6 , will be able to
assemble more accurately than <strong>the</strong> medical centres wide-ranging
information on occupational disease factors or o<strong>the</strong>r health problems
linked to <strong>the</strong> inhalation <strong>of</strong> chemicals; etc.
1.3 New corporate forms <strong>of</strong> organisation <strong>and</strong> new
management
The digital revolution promises intelligent factories, intelligent work organi -
sation, intelligent management, as well as intelligent cities, intelligent shops,
intelligent energy production systems, intelligent transport infrastructures,
etc. But what about <strong>the</strong> manual worker, <strong>the</strong> <strong>of</strong>fice worker, <strong>the</strong> service provider?
Will <strong>the</strong>ir only role be to execute tasks decided by algorithms? Or, in <strong>the</strong> words
<strong>of</strong> Head (2014): Will smart machines make dumber humans?
We are moving out <strong>of</strong> an <strong>economy</strong> where it was <strong>the</strong> master <strong>of</strong> infrastructures
who created (<strong>and</strong> captured) value <strong>and</strong> into an <strong>economy</strong> where it is <strong>the</strong> master
<strong>of</strong> data who creates (<strong>and</strong> captures) value. Until very recently numerous
industrialists in Europe wrongly believed that <strong>the</strong> industrial nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir
activity spared <strong>the</strong>m <strong>the</strong> ‘digital threat’ that seemed to weigh more heavily on
services (Uber, Airbnb, Booking.com, etc.).
However, as declared by European Commissioner Gunter Oettinger at an
industriAll conference, ‘<strong>the</strong> motor industry plays a key role in Europe <strong>and</strong> it is
5. As emphasised by this company’s advertisement: ‘Yes, I’m connected. Even my best driver
cannot work for a whole day with <strong>the</strong> precision <strong>of</strong> Autotrac’.
https://www.deere.fr/fr_FR/regional_home.page, consulted 22 September 2015.
6. For example, Apple’s Healthkit.
12 WP 2016.02